PRINCETON,     N.     J. 


W4ej^?i/e/A  £irk^Cllpi/,c>^n.dM. ,  ^.  ^, 


Division. JAJL...LLL.C    . 

Section 

Shelf. Number 


7,^63 


1798.  1898. 


Centennial  Celebration 


...  ot  tbe ... 


jfirst .  (bresb^terian  ♦  Cburcb 

St.  ClairsvUIe,  ©bio* 


3une  I5tb,  1898. 


...  Containing  tbc ... 


Centennial  Souvenir''  of  Cburcbee  anb  jpaetore, 

...  and ... 

Bll  tbe  at)^re00e0  of  tbe  ©ccaeion. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2011  with  funding  from 

Princeton  Theological  Seminary  Library 


http://www.archive.org/details/centennialceleOOfirs 


1798.  1898. 


(tiZ^zmm'ux 


^^IRjT^PRESLWTE 


R!A>f"  CHilKCH'#' 


■^t-Cl<:iiDviJlfc-Obio- 
•ReV'.R  •AlexaXder-D'P'Pa:mor- 


Cburcbes  of  a  Ccnturi?. 


REV   JOSEPH  ANDERSON. 

PASTOR  1800-1830. 

LICENSED  OCTOBER  17,  1798. 

APPOINTED  TO  PREACH  AT  THIS  PLACE  ON  THE  4th  SABBATH  IN  OCTOBER.  1793. 

STATED  SUPPLY  IN  1799. 

ORDAINED  AND  INSTALLED  AUGUST  20,  1800. 

FIRST  PRESBYTERIAN  MINISTER  ORDAINED  IN  EASTERN  OHIO. 

BORN    1767.  DIED   1847. 


REV.  JOSEPH  SMITH,  D.  D. 

PASTOR    1834-1837. 
BORN    1796.  DIED   1868. 


REV.  JAMES  ALEXANDER,  D.  D. 

PASTOR    1839-1846. 
BORN    1798.  DIED    1879. 


t/^yO-^-^'--^^     ''^ii\ 


REV.  JOHN  MOFFAT, 

PASTOR   1847-1860. 
BORN    1816.  DIED   1875. 


REV.  DAVID  R.  CAMPBELL,  D.  D. 

PASTOR    1861-1866. 
BORN    1820.  DIED    1873. 


REV.  ROBERT  ALEXANDER,  D   D. 


PASTOR    1867. 
BORN    1837. 


Centennial  Celebration* 

3ime  I5tb,  1898. 


prooramnic. 
/IDonuno  Session— 10=12. 

Invocation. 

Hymn  435. 

Reading  of  Scriptures. 

Prayer, Rev.  Walter  L.  Alexander. 

Anthem — Rejoice  in  the  Lord, Perkins. 

Historical  Address Rev.  Robert  Alexander,  D.  D. 

Greeting  from  the  Community, Hon.  J.  W.  Hollingsworth. 

Hymn  597. 
Prayer. 

Bftcrnoon  Session— 2*5. 

Hymn  442,   (  Sung-  as  it  was  one  hundred  years  ago.) 

Greeting  from  Sister  Churches .... 

Rev.  Thomas  Balph,  D.  D,,   Pastor  of  U.  P.  Church. 

Greeting  from  the  Presbytery  of  St.  Clairsville 

Rev.  W.  V.  Milligan,  D.  D.,  Cambridge,  O. 

Anthem — Children  of  the  Heavenly   King Wilson. 

The  Eldership  of  St.  Clairsville  Church,      

William  Alexander,  Esq.,  Bridgeport,  Ohio. 
Solo — Fear  ye  not,  O  Israel  ! Buck. 

Prayer. 

10 


Centennial  Celebration. 


JEvcnina  Session— 7  ©'clock. 

Hymn  575. 

Prayer. 

Anthem — Hark.  Hark,  My  Soul SbclUy. 

Scotch-Irish  Presbyterians, 

Rev.  D.  A.  Cunningham,  D.D.,  L.L.D.,  Wheeling,  W.  Va. 

Anthem — How  Beautiful  Upon  the  Mountains, Moore. 

Presbyterianism  in  America, 

Rev.  James  D.  MotTat,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  Pres't  W.  &  J.  College. 

Solo  and  Chorus — Only  Remembered  by  What  1  Have  Done,  .     .    .    Sankcv. 

Benediction. 


■% 


LARD  PRE 

EELING,  W. 


BULLARO  PRESS. 

WHEELING,  W.  VA. 


Ilntrobuction- 


?ARLY  in  the  year  1898  it  was  determined  that  a  Centennial  Celebration  of  the 
\  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  St.  Clairsville  should  be  held  on  the  l5th  of  June, 
to  commemorate  the  organization  of  the  church  and  the  introduction  of  Presby- 
terianism  into  Eastern  Ohio.  In  due  time,  committees  were  appointed  to  make  all 
suitable  arrangements  for  so  important  an  event.  A  committee  sent  out  a  cordial  invi- 
tation to  all  former  members  of  the  congregation  to  be  present  and  enjoy  the  occasion. 
A  chorus  choir  of  eighteen  voices  was  organized  and  placed  under  the  training  of  Prof. 
J.  W.  Schofield,  of  Martin's  Ferry,  to  have  charge  of  the  music.  A  committee  of 
young  people  decorated  the  church  in  a  handsome  manner  with  national  colors 
and  flowers  and  palms.  The  ladies  of  the  congregation,  in  united  action,  secured  the 
use  of  the  Court  House  Hall,  and  prepared,  on  a  large  scale  for  serving  a 
lunch  to  all  people  who  attended  the  celebration.  A  special  evening  train  was  ordered 
on  the  C.  L.  &  W.  R.  R.  for  the  accommodation  of  visitors  from  Wheeling  and  other 
cities,  who  might  desire  to  return  after  the  evening  service.  Great  interest  was  felt  in 
the  coming  event,  not  only  in  the  Church  of  St.  Clairsville  and  the  immediate  com- 
munity, but  in  the  surrounding  churches  of  the  Presbytery,  and  throughout  the  coun- 
try generally,  as  far  as  it  was  known. 

At  length  the  day  arrived,  and  all  arrangements  had  been  made  in  a  most  com- 
plete and  satisfactory  manner.  The  day  was  one  of  the  most  perfect  of  all  the  season, 
with  sky  clear  and  air  balmy  and  exhilerating.  The  people  came  in  large  numbers, 
from  far  and  near,  to  enjoy  the  exercises,  and  attended  with  unflagging  interest  to  the 
close.  The  singing  of  the  23d  Psalm,  led  by  Prof.  Schofield  and  Rev.  Dr.  Milligan, 
who  served  as  precentors,  "lining  out "  and  singing  as  they  did  a  century  ago,  made  a 
very  deep  impression,  and  recalled  precious  memories  of  other  days.  The  singing  by 
the  choir  in  every  selection  was  unusually  fine,  until  they  reached  the  climax  in  the 
solo  and  chorus,  "  Only  Remembered,"  which  made  an  impression  on  every  heart 
never  to  be  forgotten.  Altogether,  it  was  a  notable  occasion,  surpassing  the  highest 
expectations,  and  to  be  cherished  in  fondest  recollection.     The  exercises  began  at  10 

13 


A.  M.,  according  to  the  programme  within,  which  was  followed  closely  in  every  par- 
ticular. 

Rev.  Joseph  A.  Donahey  of  Bridgeport,  presided  over  the  morning  and  evening 
sessions,  and  Rev.  L.  Mechlin,  D.  D.,  of  New  Athens,  over  the  afternoon  session. 
Those  who  led  in  prayer  were.  Rev.  Walter  L.  Alexander,  of  Rock  Hill;  Rev.  W.  W. 
Morton,  of  Allegheny;  Rev.  R.  S.  CoflFy,  of  Bellaire,  and  Rev.  B.  J.  Brown,  of  Mt. 
Pleasant.  In  addition  to  all  those  named,  other  ministers  present  were:  Rev.  Dr. 
David  A.  Cunningham,  Wheeling,  West  Va.;  Rev.  Dr.  J.  D.  Moffat,  Washington, 
Pa.;  Rev.  Dr.  W.  V.  Milligan,  Cambridge,  Ohio;  Rev.  John  E.  Fulton,  Bellaire; 
Rev.  T.  C.  McNary,  Uniontown;  Rev.  A.  D.  McKay,  Centerville,  and  Rev.  D.  V. 
Mays,  Poland,  Ohio. 


Ibtstortcal  a^^re00. 

By  the  Pastor,  Rev.  Rob't  Alexander,  D.  D. 

When  the  early  settlers  crossed  the  Ohio  river  and  pressed  their  way  into  the  un- 
broken wilderness,  they  were  too  much  concerned  with  their  struggles  in  building  their 
rude  cabin  houses  and  clearing  their  land,  that  they  might  have  subsistence  for  them- 
selves and  their  families,  to  take  time  to  think  of  what  might  be  "an  hundred  years  to 
come."  Who  of  them  in  their  greatest  stretch  of  imagination  ever  thought  of  these 
things  that  are  so  familiar  to  us  and  to  all  the  people  of  this  day?  Who  of  them 
could  have  supposed  that  we  who  now  live  so  long  after  their  time,  could  feel  so  much 
interest  in  them  and  their  work,  and  would  so  gladly  gather  up  anything  of  the  com- 
monplace of  their  lives,  if  that  were  possible? 

Into  this  region  they  came  to  begin  a  mighty  undertaking,  to  clear  away  the  for- 
ests that  thickly  covered  these  fertile  hills  and  valleys,  to  prepare  their  humble  homes, 
and  to  endure  the  hardships  with  which  we  are  altogether  unacquainted.  The  lines  of 
travel  for  these  early  settlers  were  directly  westward,  in  about  the  same  latitude,  with 
little  change  of  climate  from  that  to  which  they  had  been  accustomed;  and  thus  they 
pressed  into  this  great  region  of  Eastern  Ohio,  as  soon  as  the  way  was  open  to  them, 
from  Eastern  and  Western  Pennsylvania,  and  from  Delaware  and  Maryland.  For  the 
most  part  they  were  of  that  hardy  stock  of  people  to  whose  intelligence  and  courage, 
and  heroism  and  piety,  this  country  owes  so  much  in  securing  her  independence  and  in 

14 


forming  her  government.  No  historian  has  ever  yet  brought  out  fully  the  blessed  in- 
fluence of  the  Scotch  and  the  Scotch-Irish  people  on  this  continent.  It  will  be  written 
up  some  day,  and  their  work  will  be  appreciated  more  than  ever  it  has  been.  This 
was  the  kind  of  people  who  came  pouring  into  this  wilderness  country  an  hundred 
years  ago,  to  take  possession  of  it,  and  to  make  a  home  in  it  for  themselves  and  their 
children.  The  Indian  was  just  disappearing  over  the  hill  tops  to  the  west,  yielding  up 
his  birthright  to  advancing  civilization,  and  these  early  settlers  came  and  took  posses- 
sion. They  deprived  themselves  of  many  of  the  comforts  of  life  when  they  crossed  the 
mountains  and  crossed  the  Ohio  river  and  came  to  this  untrodden  wilderness.  They 
came  not  in  Palace  cars,  drawn  by  swift  going  trains,  rapidly  transporting  them  and 
their  household  goods;  but  in  wagons  drawn  usually  by  oxen  and  horses,  bringing 
with  them  little  more  than  the  bare  necessities  of  life. 

But  whatever  of  the  comforts  of  life  they  were  forced  to  leave  behind  them,  there 
was  one  thing  they  did  not  leave,  and  that  was  their  religion,  the  same  type  of  it  to 
which  their  forefathers  had  held  when  threatened  with  prison  or  death,  and  to  which 
they  held  with  a  tenacity  stronger  than  death.  It  was  this  same  Presbyterian 
faith,  that  like  good  seeds]  wafted  on  the  billows,  came  across  the  ocean  and  took 
root  in  New  Jersey,  and  Delaware,  and  Maryland,  and  Pennsylyania,  crossing  over 
the  Alleghenies  into  Western  Pennsylvania,  and  then  carried  across  the  Ohio  and 
planted  here  in  the  virgin  soil  of  the  wilderness.  It  was  a  propitious  time  when  this 
movement  was  made.  The  state  of  religion  had  been  very  low,  all  over  the  United 
States,  in  the  years  following  the  great  Revolution.  French  favor  and  protection,  had 
introduced  French  infidelity,  which  spread  everywhere  with  amazing  rapidity.  It  had 
seemed  to  good  people  at  the  close  of  the  last  century,  as  if  the  very  foundations  of 
morality  and  social  order  were  going  to  destruction.  Infidelity  and  atheism  were  bold, 
confident  and  defiant.  But  as  of  old,  prayer  arose  continually  from  the  people  of  God, 
and  the  answers  of  mercy  came.  The  symptoms  of  better  times  soon  began  to  appear 
in  religious  awakening  and  a  deep  sense  of  moral  desolation.  The  work  of  the  Lord 
was  to  be  revived  greatly,,  and  the  first  signs  were  beginning  to  appear.  It  was  at  this 
time,  and  under  these  circumstances,  that  these  people  came  here,  some  of  them  from 
localities  where  the  Spirit  of  God  was  then  moving  in  power  on  the  hearts  of  the  peo- 
ple. No  sooner  were  the  first  of  these  pioneers  settled  in  their  rude  and  hastily  con- 
structed cabins,  than  the  missionary  spirit  led  Rev.  Drs.  John  McMillan  and  Thomas 
Marquis  to  come  over  the  Ohio  and  seek  the  scattered  sheep  of  Christ's  flock,  and  to 
make  some  arrangement  to  have  the  gospel  preached  to  them.  The  records  of  the 
Presbytery  of  Ohio,  in  Vol.  I.  and  Page  19,  show  their  appointment  on  this  mission  as 

15 


early  as  the  2d  and  3d  Sabbaths  of  November,  1796.  During  the  next  year,  1797,  a 
few  supplies  were  also  sent  to  this  point,  called  in  the  records  "  Indian  Wheelin  Creek," 
and  also  to  "Indian  Short  Creek,"  which  finally  became  the  church  of  Mt.  Pleasant. 
The  next  year,  1798,  witnessed  regular  supplies  appointed,  and  we  date  the  organiza- 
tion from  that  year,  though  there  is  no  formal  act  of  organization  recorded — nor  is 
there  such  record  of  any  of  the  early  churches.  From  this  year,  "  Indian  Wheelin 
Creek  "  and  "  Indian  Short  Creek"  appear  on  the  roll  of  churches,  and  are  represented 
as  such  in  Presbytery.  They  have  therefore  the  honor  of  being  the  oldest  Presbyterian 
Churches  in  Eastern  Ohio. 

The  first  place  of  worship  was  half  a  mile  north  of  this  place,  at  the  present  site 
of  the  Union  Cemetery.  It  was  what  was  called  a  "  tent,"  or  mere  shed  over  a  plat- 
form as  a  stand  for  the  preacher,  while  the  people  sat  on  logs  under  the  wide  spreading 
branches  of  the  forest  trees.  This  was  the  primitive  meeting  place  of  all  the  earlier 
churches,  and  it  was  a  favorite  meeting  place  here,  as  it  stood  on  the  rising  ground 
above  the  gateway  leading  into  the  cemetery,  in  the  midst  of  a  beautiful  grove  that 
then  occupied  the  ground.  Long  after  the  congregation  had  better  accommodations, 
they  were  still  accustomed,  in  pleasant  weather,  to  meet  under  the  trees,  around  this 
"tent,"  for  their  preaching  service. 

Then  succeeded  the  log  cabin  church,  that  was  built  some  time  in  1799,  and  stood 
about  the  middle  of  the  older  part  of  the  Cemetery,  a  humble  place  of  worship,  with- 
out floor  or  chimney,  and  roofed  with  clapboards;  where  the  gospel  was  preached  for 
eight  years.  Rude  as  it  was,  this  house  was  in  keeping  with  the  humble  abodes  of 
most  of  the  people.  To  it  the  people  came  from  far  and  near.  Mr.  John  Cunning- 
ham and  his  wife,  who  settled  on  McMahon's  Creek,  near  Bellaire,  in  1805,  came 
with  great  regularity  to  this  church,  a  distance  of  more  than  twelve  miles,  on  horse- 
back, and  by  a  bridle  path  through  the  forest.  This  they  did  until  1812,  when  the 
church  of  Rockhill  was  organized,  of  which  Mr.  Cunningham  became  one  of  the  first 
ruling  elders,  Mrs.  James  Kelsey,  the  mother  of  the  late  James  Kelsey,  Esq.,  came 
also  from  the  neighborhood  of  Rockhill,  traveling  a  distance  of  ten  miles,  to  attend 
services  here.  On  communion  seasons  the  people  came  together  in  great  numbers, 
some  coming  a  distance  of  twenty  or  thirty  miles  from  other  congregations.  Those 
were  precious  communion  seasons,  services  extending  through  four  days  and  closing  on 
Monday,  the  strangers  from  a  distance  taxing  the  hospitality  of  the  people  to  the  utmost, 
and  some  of  them  camping  out  in  their  wagons.  All  this  gave  rise  at  that  day  to  the 
campmeeting,  which  in  its  origin  was  really  a  Presbyterian  institution,  and  adopted  at 
a  later  day  by  other  denominations. 

16 


This  first  cabin  church  gave  place  to  a  larger  and  more  comfortable  log  building, 
erected  on  the  same  ground,  a  little  west  of  the  present  fountain  in  the  cemetery.  It 
was  built  in  1808,  and  was  erected  by  the  united  labor  of  the  people  and  by  their  own 
hands.  Pastor,  elders  and  people  all  took  part  in  the  good  work  and  soon  completed 
it.  It  was  of  the  length  of  three  logs,  the  middle  one  held  in  place  by  short  logs,  thus 
forming  a  recess  in  each  of  the  long  sides.  In  one  recess  the  pulpit  stood,  and  the 
seats  and  aisles  were  arranged  with  reference  to  it.  This  house  was  heated  by  stoves, 
and  must  have  been  a  vast  improvement  on  the  former  humble  cabin.  At  that  time  a 
movement  was  made  to  change  the  location  of  the  church  to  the  town  of  St.  Clairs- 
ville,  which  was  a  rising  village,  with  eighty  houses  and  four  hundred  inhabitants,  and 
four  years  before  had  become  the  county  seat  of  Belmont  county. 

On  October  6,  1806,  the  Hon.  Josiah  Dillon,  Judge  of  the  Common  Pleas  Court, 
made  a  deed  to  the  congregation  for  a  lot  on  which  to  build  a  church  in  town,  through 
Alexander  Boggs,  George  Ireland,  Alexander  Gaston  and  David  Rusk,  acting  as  trus- 
tees. The  consideration  mentioned  in  the  deed  was  "twenty-five  cents  in  lawful 
money."  But  this  kind  donation  did  not  induce  the  congregation  to  change  the  loca- 
tion of  the  church,  as  the  people  were  attached  to  the  original  site,  near  their  place  of 
burial,  and  besides  they  feared  the  contaminating  influence  of  the  town,  and  regarded 
it  as  unsuitable  for  a  place  of  worship.  So  they  remained  in  that  beautiful 
and  retired  locality  near  the  graves  of  their  kindred,  until  1822.  By  this  time,  a  more 
substantial  building  was  desired  by  the  congregation,  and  the  town  having  grown  to  a 
place  of  considerable  importance,  a  commodious  brick  church  was  erected  within  the 
limits  of  the  village,  in  the  northwest  part  of  it.  The  exact  location  was  the  southwest 
corner,  opposite  the  Friends'  Cemetery.  The  change  thus  made  created  some  dissatis- 
faction among  the  people,  but  not  to  the  serious  injury  of  the  church.  This  building 
was  of  brick,  had  galleries  along  one  end  and  two  sides,  had  doors  to  the  pews,  and 
must  have  been  a  house  of  style  and  capacity.  Its  cost  was  three  thousand  dollars,  no 
inconsiderable  sum  of  money  to  collect  at  that  day.  It  was  the  most  commodious 
church  in  all  this  region.  It  was  often  used  for  popular  meetings,  as  it  would  seat 
more  people  comfortably  than  than  any  other  building  in  town.  It  was  used  by  the 
congregation  as  their  place  of  worship  for  nearly  twenty  years. 

Shortly  after  its  organization,  the  name  of  the  church  had  been  changed  to 
"  Richland,"  from  the  name  of  the  township,  and  by  this  was  known  on  the  records 
of  Presbytery.  But  an  act  of  the  Legislature,  on  the  l9th  of  January,  1827,  incor- 
porated the  church  under  the  name  of  "The  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  St.  Clairs- 
ville,"  with  William  Bell,  Andrew  P.  Happer  and  Dr.  John  McCracken  as  the  first 

17 


trustees. 

This  third  house  was  totally  destroyed  by  fire  on  Friday  morning,  October  l5th, 
1841,  amid  the  great  lamentation  of  the  people.  Services  had  been  held  in  it  on  the 
evening  before,  and  it  was  supposed  that  a  defective  flue  was  the  cause  of  the  accident. 
But  the  congregation  was  not  utterly  discouraged,  for  they  at  once  prepared  to  rebuild. 
The  necessary  arrangements  were  made,  a  new  site  was  chosen  on  Marietta  street,  and 
in  the  Spring  of  1843,  one  of  the  best  churches  in  this  part  of  the  country  was  finished 
and  ready  for  use.  It  was  a  brick  house,  45x80  feet,  with  stone  basement,  with  fine 
audience  room,  and  well  built  walls.  The  brick  was  made  by  Darius  McVey,  on  the 
ground  where  the  church  was  built.  Thomas  McLaughlin  built  the  stone  work  of  the 
foundation,  Charles  Bailey  laid  the  brick,  and  John  McNeice,  who  is  still  living  and 
resides  near  Glencoe,  made  the  mortar.  The  contractor  for  the  carpenter  work  was 
Mr.  Scott,  of  Wheeling.  The  roof  was  strongly  framed,  with  the  king  truss,  and  was 
self-supporting.  It  was,  however,  unfortunate  in  its  foundation,  part  resting  on  the 
rock  and  part  on  the  clay,  with  the  usual  result  that  the  east  end  of  the  building  set- 
tled and  cracked  the  walls  on  both  sides,  over  every  window.  The  building  of  that 
church  was  a  great  undertaking  for  the  people.  Some  were  disaffected  by  the  change 
of  location,  and  even  if  they  had  been  perfectly  united,  the  whole  cost  of  seven  thou- 
sand dollars  was  a  large  sum  to  raise  in  the  hard  times  that  then  prevailed  in  this 
country.  Builders'  liens  were  raised  against  the  work  and  threatened  to  stop  it  or 
sacrifice  the  property.  At  one  crisis,  Capt.  Thomas  T.  Thompson  rescued  the  building 
from  the  hands  of  the  Sheriff,  by  the  payment  of  three  hundred  dollars  to  satisfy  a 
judgment.  At  another  crisis,  one  thousand  dollars  must  be  raised  immediately  to 
satisfy  the  legal  claims  of  builders,  and  four  men  came  forward.  Rev.  James  Alexan- 
der, the  Pastor,  Hon.  Benjamin  Ruggles,  Hon.  Robert  Jefferson  Alexander  and  Mr. 
Joseph  Morrison,  and  on  their  personal  security  borrowed  the  money,  paid  off  the 
claim,  and  then  said  to  the  faint-hearted  and  discouraged  people,  "Now,  let  us  all 
rally  to  this  work  and  save  our  church  from  dishonor."  Under  such  leadership  they 
soon  rallied,  and  all  the  debt  was  finally  cleared  away.  That  building  served  a  great 
and  useful  purpose  in  this  congregation,  great  good  was  done  within  its  walls,  and  of 
many  souls  it  was  the  place  of  their  spiritual  birth.  With  frequent  repairs  and  im- 
provements in  the  interior,  it  was  a  comfortable  place  of  worship,  but  the  settling  of 
the  east  wall  was  still  going  on  gradually  and  surely,  with  no  hope  of  checking  it,  and 
the  people  felt  that  a  new  church  was  needed  to  meet  the  wants  of  the  times.  While 
they  hesitated  to  undertake  so  great  a  work,  the  question  of  building  a  new  church 
was  settled  in  an  unexpected  manner.    The  l5th  of  April,  1887,  will  always  be  mem- 

18 


BUILT   1842.     WRECKED  BY 
TORNADO  APRIL  15th,  1887. 


BUILT  IS 


orable  in  the  history  of  this  place  and  community.  The  day  was  mild  and  clear,  with 
no  premonition  of  the  desolation  that  would  reign  before  the  sun  went  down.  About 
three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  a  dark  cloud  arose  in  the  west,  and  out  of  it  came  a  tor- 
nado that  carried  destruction  before  it  and  left  ruin  in  its  pathway.  It  swept  through 
the  village  with  a  power  that  seemed  to  be  irresistible.  While  many  private  houses 
were  crushed  in  a  moment,  and  the  United  Presbyterian  church  was  totally  destroyed, 
the  Presbyterian  church  was  stripped  of  its  roof,  its  cornice  torn  away,  its  west  gable 
driven  in,  and  its  walls  spread  and  further  cracked,  till  it  was  beyond  repair,  and  it  was 
at  once  decided  to  take  it  down  and  build  another  one.  Many  of  us  are  familiar  with 
the  work  that  was  thus  suddenly  thrust  upon  us.  To  secure  this  site,  the  largest  space 
available  for  such  a  building;  to  remove  the  houses  that  stood  on  this  ground  to  the 
other  side  of  the  street  in  good  condition;  to  secure  a  subscription  to  meet  the  great  ex- 
pense; to  settle  on  plans  of  building  and  give  out  contracts;  to  hold  fairs  and  fes- 
tivals and  dinners  and  concerts  and  socials  to  raise  money;  all  this  was  labor  into 
which  this  congregation  entered  with  heart  and  hand,  and  which,  now  that  it  is  past 
and  gone,  seems  sometimes  as  if  it  had  been  a  dream.  The  stone  of  which  this  house 
is  built,  of  superior  quality,  was  quarried  within  the  bounds  of  the  congregation, 
part  of  it  on  the  west  side  of  the  Union  Cemetery  grounds,  and  the  greater  part  on 
the  farm  of  Mr.  John  S.  Hutchison,  who  donated  all  that  was  needed.  The  ma- 
terial of  the  old  building  was  used  in  the  foundation  and  inner  walls,  and  all  the  new 
material  of  every  description  was  of  the  very  best  quality.  The  floors  are  of  the  best 
quality  of  yellow  pine,  and  the  interior  wainscotting  of  birch.  The  slate  on  the  roof 
came  from  the  famous  Peach  Bottom  quarries  of  York  County,  Pa.  The  contractors 
received  the  material  of  the  old  church  to  utilize  as  far  as  practicable,  all 
other  stone  needed  delivered  on  the  ground,  and  $14,946  in  cash.  The  further  ex- 
pense of  quarrying  and  hauling  stone,  of  heating  and  lighting,  frescoing  and  furnish- 
ing, increased  the  entire  cost  of  the  building  to  the  sum  of  $21,000.  The  pulpit  fur- 
niture, donated  by  different  persons,  adds  $200  additional.  From  first  to  last,  every 
expense  was  carefully  guarded  and  every  dollar  turned  to  the  best  account.  We  owe 
so  much  in  this  arduous  undertaking  to  the  good  hand  of  the  Lord,  directing  in  every- 
thing, so  that  no  dissensions  arose  about  anything,  so  that  there  was  no  interruption 
in  the  work  of  any  kind,  so  that  we  secured  such  an  accomplished  architect  as  Mr.  Isaac 
Pursell,  of  Philadelphia,  and  such  competent  builders  as  Messrs.  Bourner  and  Phillips, 
of  Newark,  Ohio.  After  standing  nearly  ten  years,  the  walls  are  as  solid  as  when 
first  built,  and  so  closely  did  the  builders  follow  the  plans,  that  the  architect's  drawing 
of  the  building  before  its  erection  is  the  best  picture  that  has  been  made  of  it, 

19 


The  result  of  all  this  effort  of  this  congelation,  is  this  church  in  which  we  meet 
to-day,  and  which  stands  as  a  monument  to  the  taste  and  zeal,  and  liberality  and  pub- 
lic spirit  of  the  people  who  lived  here,  and  belonged  to  this  church,  in  the  closing  de- 
cade of  the  first  century  of  her  history.  Long  may  this  house  stand  as  the  home  and 
the  meeting  place  of  this  congregation.  May  these  walls  stand  as  firmly  as  they  do 
this  day,  when  1998  shall  come;  and  when  every  one  assembled  in  them  now  shall 
have  passed  from  earth,  may  the  coming  generations  find  this  house  strong  and  safe, 
and  still  as  well  adapted  to  God's  worship  as  it  is  to-day ! 

We  have  now  reviewed  the  progress  of  this  church,  step  by  step,  from  the  tent 
and  the  cabin  to  this  beautiful  and  convenient  church  home.  These  have  been  the 
changes  a  century  has  produced  in  the  local  dwelling  place  of  this  congregation.  These 
have  been  the  places  where  the  people  in  passing  generations  have  met  with  God  and 
He  has  met  with  them,  to  reveal  His  truth,  to  display  His  grace  and  to  unveil  His 
«ylory.  Some  of  the  dearest  associations  of  earth  are  connected  with  the  house  of 
God,  the  assembled  worshippers,  the  gospel  preached,  and  the  blessed  communion  of 
saints  at  the  Lord's  Table.  Dear  as  the  place  of  birth  and  childhood,  the  most  sacred 
place  on  earth  is  the  place  of  deep  religious  impressions,  where  one  is  born  to  God. 
Even  "the  Lord  shall  count  when  He  writeth  up  His  people  that  this  man  was  born 
there." 

But  now  let  us  return  to  the  beginning  of  our  history,  and  consider  the  people 
who  worshipped  in  these  different  houses,  and  filled  the  communion  table,  within  this 
century;  and  also  those  who  have  preached  the  gospel  here  during  this  time.  In  the 
midst  of  all  the  trials  and  privations  of  pioneer  life,  we  have  seen  how  anxious  these 
people  were  for  the  public  worship  of  God;  and  what  pains  they  took  to  have  a  place 
for  public  worship,  even  if  in  the  early  days  they  must  build  it  with  their  own  hands; 
and  what  long  distances  some  of  them  traveled  to  the  place  of  worship.  They  did  not 
settle  down  here  absorbed  in  the  struggle  for  subsistence,  indifferent  to  the  ordinances 
and  to  the  ministry,  or  even  satisfied  with  occasional  preaching.  They  believed,  as 
true  Presbyterians,  in  the  importance  of  the  pastoral  office,  of  one  over  them  in  the 
Lord,  to  watch  for  their  souls.  As  they  were  praying  for  the  Lord  to  send  a  faithful 
shepherd  to  seek  the  scattered  sheep  of  Christ's  flock  in  the  wilderness  and  gather  them 
into  the  fold,  the  Lord  in  His  providence  was  preparing  one  for  them.  On  October 
27th,  1797,  Mr.  Joseph  Anderson,  of  Washington  Co.,  Pa.,  at  that  time  a  man  of 
thirty  years  of  age,  appeared  before  the  Presbytery  of  Ohio  and  offered  himself  as  a 
candidate  for  the  ministry,  that  in  due  time  he  might  be  licensed  to  preach 
the  gospel.     He  was  subjected  to  a  rigid  examination.     Greatly  as  they  needed  minis- 

20 


ters,  the  Presbytery  was  most  careful  as  to  the  kind  of  men  they  would  commission 
to  preach  the  g'ospel.  "Upon  his  producing  sufficient  testimonials  of  his  being  a  regu- 
lar member  of  the  church,  and  of  his  having  gone  through  a  regular  course  of  litera- 
ture, the  Presbytery  proceeded  to  converse  with  him  upon  his  experimental  acquaint- 
ance with  religion,  and  proposed  to  him  some  cases  of  conscience,  and  having  obtain- 
ed satisfaction,  agreed  to  take  him  on  trials,  and  appointed  him  to  prepare  a  Latin 
exegesis,  to  be  delivered  at  the  April  meeting."  Thus  the  old  records  show  the  care 
with  which  they  guarded  the  entrance  to  the  ministry.  They  encouraged  no  short 
methods  of  preparation  or  easy  ways  of  admission  to  the  sacred  office.  The  theme 
for  his  Latin  Exegesis  was  to  be,  "An  Christus  quo  Mediator  adorandus  sit.^"  In 
April,  1798,  he  delivered  his  Latin  thesis,  and  had  other  parts  of  trial  assigned  him. 
Finally,  he  appeared  in  Presbytery  October  17th,  1798,  the  next  meeting,  and  after  a 
thorough  examination  in  theology,  and  after  the  delivery  of  a  trial  sermon  and  lecture, 
he  was  licensed  to  preach  the  Gospel.  He  was  immediately  appointed  to  visit  the 
Northwest  Territory,  west  of  the  Ohio  river,  and  preach  at  "  Indian  Wheelin  Creek" 
on  the  fourth  Sabbath  of  October,  1798,  and  at  "  Indian  Short  Creek  "  on  the  first 
Sabbath  of  November.  He  then  supplied  these  churches  occasionally,  and  on  October 
l5th,  1799,  at  the  request  of  a  committee  from  these  churches.  Presbytery  appointed 
Mr.  Anderson  as  a  Stated  Supply  for  one  year.  But  at  the  meeting  on  April  l5th, 
1800,  a  call  from  the  united  congregations  of  "Indian  Wheelin  Creek,"  now 
changed  to  "Richland,"  "Short  Creek,"  that  afterward  was  changed  to  Mt.  Pleasant, 
and  "  Cross  Roads,"  afterward  known,  and  to  this  day,  as  "Crabapple,"  was  made 
for  the  pastoral  services  of  Mr.  Anderson,  and  accepted  by  him.  His  ordination  took 
place  at  Cross  Roads,  Western  Territory,  (now  Crabapple)  on  August  20th,  1800. 
Presbytery  met  at  that  place  on  the  I9th  of  August.  The  members  present  were: 
Ministers — John  McMillan,  James  Hughes,  John  Brice  and  Thomas  Marquis.  Elders — 
Samuel  Dunlap  and  John  Irwin.  On  Wednesday,  August  20th,  "  Presbytery  pro- 
ceeded to  the  ordination  of  Mr.  Joseph  Anderson,  and  by  fasting  and  prayer,  and  with 
the  laying  on  of  the  hands  of  the  Presbytery,  solemnly  ordained  him  to  the  holy  office 
of  the  gospel  ministry,  and  installed  him  pastor  of  the  united  churches  of  Richland, 
Short  Creek  and  Cross  Roads,  W.  T."  Dr.  McMillan  preached  on  the  occasion  from 
2  Corinthians,  5 :20,  and  Rev.  John  Brice  gave  the  charge. 

I  have  entered  into  all  these  details,  because  this  was  an  event  of  vast  importance, 
that  took  place  that  day.  It  was  the  first  meeting  of  the  Presbytery  of  Ohio  in  the 
Northwest  Territory,  west  of  the  Ohio  River,  and  this  was  the  first  Presbyterian  or- 
dination in  Eastern  Ohio.     That  event  is  worthy  of  some  permanent  monument  to 

21 


commemorate  it,  and  it  is  hoped  one  will  be  erected  some  day  near  Crabapple  church. 
The  Rev.  Joseph  Anderson  was  a  man  of  zeal  and  true  piety,  sound  in  the  faith 
and  abundant  in  labors,  of  good  presence  and  address,  but  of  moderate  abilities.  After 
serving  the  three  churches  about  four  years,  he  gave  up  Crabapple,  which  then 
passed  under  the  pastoral  care  of  Rev.  Dr.  John  Rea,  in  connection  with  the  church  of 
Beech  Spring.  Mr.  Anderson  then  continued  pastor  of  the  two  churches  of  Richland 
and  Short  Oeek  for  many  years,  giving  two-thirds  of  his  time  to  Richland  and  one- 
third  to  Short  Creek.  He  finally  gave  up  the  pastorate  over  Short  Creek,  but  con- 
tinued as  stated  supply  for  some  years  afterward.  On  the  30th  of  October,  1830,  he 
resigned  his  pastoral  care  over  this  church,  but  still  continued  to  reside  in  the  bounds 
of  the  congregation,  on  his  farm  one  mile  north  of  town,  which  he  bought  from  the 
Government  February  27th,  1807,  and  sold  to  Robert  Smiley  in  1835.  It  is  now 
owned  by  Mr.  John  Porterfield.  He  was  very  laborious,  and  supplied  Concord  and 
Rock  Hill,  and  other  vacant  churches,  as  opportunity  offered.  He  removed  to  Mis- 
souri in  1835,  became  a  member  of  the  Presbytery  of  St.  Charles,  preached  as  he  was 
able  for  a  few  years  and  died  in  Monticello,  Mo.,  in  1847,  aged  80  years.  He  accom- 
plished much  good  in  this  congregation  in  the  face  of  great  difficulties,  and  here  faith- 
fully sowed  the  seed  of  the  kingdom,  the  fruit  of  which  others  have  been  gathering 
ever  since.  None  of  us  know  the  hardships  of  the  pioneer  ministers  who  at  that  day 
went  about  seeking  the  good  of  the  people,  making  long  journeys  over  roads  almost 
impassible,  crossing  bridgeless  streams,  following  bridle  paths  through  dense  forests 
and  over  fallen  timber,  and  exposed  to  summer's  heat  or  winter's  cold.  Mr.  Ander- 
son's labors  over  all  this  region  were  most  arduous  and  self-denying.  But  he  labored 
among  a  people  of  genuine  piety,  who  had  been  well  trained  in  religious  duties,  and  in 
the  principles  of  Presbyterianism.  They  were  men  of  zeal  and  prayer,  and  were  strong 
in  faith. 

The  marble  tablet  on  the  wall  to  the  right  of  the  pulpit  was  placed  here  at  the  ex- 
pense of  the  Rev.  Drs.  Thomas  R.  Crawford  and  Robert  Alexander,  in  memory  of  the 
faithful  pioneer  work  performed  by  Rev.  Joseph  Anderson.  In  the  thirty  years  of  Mr. 
Anderson's  ministry  here,  the  following  persons  were  connected  with  the  session: 
David  McWilliams,  William  McWilliams,  James  McConnell,  were  the  first,  and  after- 
ward came  William  Ramage,  Arthur  Irwin,  Robert  Laughlin,  John  Perry,  Matthew 
Anderson,  John  Marquis,  Robert  Bell,  Wm.  Paris,  Sr,,  Robert  Morrison,  Humphrey 
Alexander,  George  Anderson,  John  Rankin,  Andrew  P.  Happer,  Franklin  Bell,  John 
Culbertson,  Joseph  Laughlin  and  Andrew  Work.  Besides  these,  as  men  prominent  in 
the  early  membership  of  the  church,  though  not  in  the  eldership,   may  be  mentioned 

22 


the  names  of  William  Bell,  William  Boggs,  Reese  Boggs,  Wm.  Paris,  Jr.,  Alexander 
McConnell,  Michael  Grove,  Joshua  Anderson,  Wm.  Mathers,  David  Hutchison,  Sam- 
uel Mutchmore,  Samuel  Robinson,  William  Robinson,  Joseph  Marshall,  Samuel 
Crawford,  David  Rusk,  Allen  Stewart,  Alexander  Clark,  Charles  Collins,  William 
Dysart,  Louis  Sutton,  John  A.  Grove,  Jacob  Erastus  Grove,  William  Grimes,  William 
Booker,  Robert  Duncan  and  John  McMechan.  John  Patterson  and  William  Templeton 
took  a  deep  interest  in  this  church  in  the  earlier  years  of  its  history.  They  with  a  few 
others  mentioned  above  became  leading  men  in  the  Associate  Reformed  Church,  which 
was  organized  here  in  1832.  All  of  these  ceased  from  earthly  labors  long  years  ago. 
They  were  all  men  of  integrity  and  honor  as  citizens,  and  consistent  friends  of  Christ 
and  his  Church. 

After  the  resignation  of  Mr.  Anderson,  the  Rev.  Alexander  Logan  supplied  the 
pulpit  for  one  year,  and  for  three  years  following  the  Rev.  William  Fuller  and  others 
supplied  it  for  short  periods.  The  congregation  was  in  a  divided  state  and  could  not 
agree  on  a  pastor.  Even  the  Presbytery  rebuked  them  for  their  divisions,  and  exhorted 
them  by  special  resolutions  to  study  the  things  that  make  for  peace  and  to  agree  as 
soon  as  possible  on  a  pastor.  At  length  a  call  was  made  in  July,  1834  for  the  Rev. 
Joseph  Smith,  and  he  became  Pastor  in  October  of  that  year.  He  was  a  son  of  Rev. 
David  Smith,  and  a  grandson  of  Rev.  Joseph  Smith  and  Rev.  Dr.  James  Power,  who 
were  among  the  most  distinguished  of  the  pioneer  ministers  of  Western  Pennsylvania. 
He  was  born  July  l5th,  1796,  educated  at  Jefferson  College  and  at  Princeton  Theo- 
logical Seminary,  and  licensed  in  April,  1819.  After  three  years  of  missionary  labor 
in  Virginia,  he  was  ordained  April  22d,  1822,  and  became  pastor  in  Staunton,  Va., 
and  in  Frederick,  Md.,  previous  to  his  coming  to  St.  Clairsville.  His  pastorate  here 
was  short,  but  pleasant  and  successful.  A  revival  of  great  power  occurred  during 
the  ministry  of  Dr.  Smith.  A  protracted  meeting  had  been  held  in  the  beginning  of 
1836,  and  God's  Spirit  was  poured  out  in  a  wonderful  manner.  The  church  was 
revived,  old  stumbling  blocks  were  removed,  and  a  serious  division  which  had  existed 
in  the  church  for  years  was  effectually  healed.  There  were  also  added  to  the  church 
on  the  12th  of  March  following,  fifty-nine  persons,  many  of  whom  were  baptized, 
showing  the  aggressive  character  of  the  work.  Hitherto  the  church  had  received  her 
increase  of  membership  from  her  own  children;  now  a  movement  was  made  on  the 
world,  and  old  and  young  yielded  as  trophies  of  redeeming  grace.  Permanent  fruits 
followed,  as  they  always  do  a  genuine  revival  of  religion.  It  is  said  that  only  one  per- 
son of  all  that  number  then  received,  dishonored  his  profession.  This  revival  was 
much  talked  of  over  the  country,  and  the  addition  to  the  church  was  the  largest  that 

23 


had  been  made  to  any  Presbyterian  church  in  all  this  region.  The  membership  of  the 
church  was  raised  to  240  by  this  large  accession,  and  from  the  number  came  two  who 
entered  the  ministry — Rev.  John  P.  Caldwell  and  Rev.  Ebenezer  Henry,  good  and  faith- 
ful men,  who,  after  rendering  valuable  service  to  the  Church  of  Christ  in  various 
places,  have  long  since  finished  their  earthly  labors.  The  ministry  of  Dr.  Smith  was 
highly  acceptable  to  this  congregation,  and  left  a  sweet  impression  that  is  felt  and 
spoken  of  to  this  day.  He  was  dismissed  in  October.  1837,  after  a  pastorate  of  three 
years,  to  become  President  of  Franklin  College  in  New  Athens,  Ohio.  After  two 
years  in  that  position  he  was  called  a  second  time  to  Frederick,  Md. ,  and  then  to  Elli- 
cott's  Mills.  For  five  years  he  served  as  agent  of  the  Board  of  Domestic  Missions, 
then  settled  at  Round  Hill  and  Elizabeth,  and  finally  at  Greensburgh,  Pa.,  in  1856. 
Ten  years  after  that  he  resigned  and  rested  from  a  ministry  of  forty-seven  years,  until 
death  released  him  from  all  earthly  labors,  December  4th,  1868. 

Dr.  Smith  was  greatly  blessed  in  his  ministry  wherever  he  labored.  He  was  instru- 
mental in  bringing  into  the  church  five  hundred  persons.  He  was  a  devoted  man,  an 
excellent,  impressive  and  earnest  preacher,  and  a  model  Christian  gentleman.  He  is 
best  known  as  the  author  of  the  "  History  of  Jefferson  College,"  and  "Old  Redstone." 
He  has  left  a  son.  Rev.  James  P.  Smith,  D.  D.,  who  is  a  prominent  minister  of  the 
Presbyterian  Church  (South),  and  editor  of  the  Central  Presbyterian,  of  Richmond, 
Va.;  also  a  daughter,  Maria  B.,  who  is  the  wife  of  Rev.  Dr.  J.  C.  Barr,  of  Charleston, 
West  Va.  There  are  only  six  persons  now  living  who  were  members  of  this  church 
in  the  ministry  of  Dr.  Smith.  One  of  them,  Mrs.  Matilda  McConnell  Brown,  of 
Summerfield.  Ohio,  removed  from  this  congregation  years  ago;  another,  Miss  Mary 
Boggs,  became  one  of  the  first  members  of  West  Brooklyn  church,  at  Warnock,  and 
Miss  Almira  Work,  of  Morristown;  ^he  others  are  still  in  this  church,  and  are  as 
follows:  James  Hutchinson,  Mrs.  Caroline  V.  Grove  and  Miss  Elizabeth  Duncan,  all 
of  them  far  advanced  in  years. 

After  the  close  of  Dr.  Smith's  pastorate,  in  1837,  the  pulpit  was  supplied  for  two 
years  by  Revs.  Thomas  J.  Gordon,  James  Kerr,  John  McCluskey,  William  R.  Work, 
and  others.  The  last  named,  Rev.  Wm.  R.  Work,  was  a  son  of  this  church,  of  one  of 
the  prominent  families  of  the  congregation,  and  when  licensed  to  preach,  April  18th, 
1838,  was  called  to  the  pastorate  here,  but  declined  coming,  and  settled  shortly 
afterward  near  Philadelphia. 

In  October,  1839,  a  call  was  extended  to  the  Rev.  James  Alexander,  which  was  ac- 
cepted, and  soon  after  he  began  his  labors  in  this  place.  He  was  born  near  Mercer, 
Pa.,  September  25th,  1798,  graduated  from  Jefferson  College  in  1826,  studied  theology 

24 


with  his  pastor,  the  Rev,  Samuel  Tait,  and  was  licensed  to  preach  the  gospel  by  the 
Presbytery  of  Erie  on  the  9th  of  April,  1828.  In  October  of  that  year  he  was  ordained 
and  installed  pastor  of  Salem,  Greenville  and  Big  Bend,  in  the  Presbytery  of  Blairs- 
ville,  where  he  labored  successfully  for  six  years,  and  received  to  the  churches  one  hun- 
dred members  on  examination.  In  1834  he  was  called  to  Hopewell,  in  the  Presbytery 
of  Ohio,  where  belabored  until  1839,  when  he  came  here.  During  his  ministry  here 
he  had  many  difficulties  to  contend  with.  The  house  of  worship  was  totally  destroyed 
by  fire  and  great  financial  embarrassment  fell  on  the  congregation  in  their  effort  to  re- 
pair their  loss.  The  spiritual  growth  of  the  people  was  greatly  retarded  by  a  heavy 
church  debt,  and  their  energies  were  almost  paralyzed.  While  building  the  new  church, 
the  congregation  worshipped  in  the  Court  House,  and  as  the  place  was  not  well  ar- 
ranged for  reading  sermons,  the  preacher  was  compelled,  by  force  of  circumstances,  to 
abandon  the  use  of  the  manuscript,  and  thus,  as  he  said  himself,  was  "saved  from 
reading  as  by  fire." 

In  June,  1846,  he  resigned  his  pastorate  here,  and  preached  his  farewell  sermon 
from  Phil.  4:9,  "Those  things  which  ye  have  both  learned  and  received  and  heard  and 
seen  in  me  do:  and  the  God  of  peace  will  be  with  you."  As  a  little  boy  present  that 
day  with  my  parents,  1  remember  that  farewell  sermon,  and  as  he  reiterated  the  context, 
"Whatsoever  things  are  true,  whatsoever  things  are  honest,  whatsoever  things  are  just, 
whatsoever  things  are  pure,  whatsoever  things  are  lovely,  whatsoever  things  are  of 
good  report,"  his  form  and  manner  rise  before  me  now,  and  his  tones  of  voice  I  still 
recognize  through  more  than  half  a  century.  After  leaving  here  he  was  successfully  set- 
tled in  Martin's  Ferry,  and  spent  thirteen  years  in  that  place,  giving  part  of  his  ser- 
vices to  the  church  of  Wheeling  Valley.  While  he  was  in  Martin's  Ferry  the  church  of 
Kirkwood,  in  Bridgeport,  was  organized  by  him,  and  for  a  time  enjoyed  a  part  of  his 
labors. 

In  1859,  Dr.  Alexander  was  called  to  Allen  Grove  and  Wolf  Run,  in  the  Presbytery 
of  Washington,  and  in  1867,  to  Moundsville,  West  Va.,  in  the  same  Presbytery,  where 
he  continued  in  the  active  work  of  the  ministry  for  ten  years,  and  until  by  the  infirm- 
ities of  age  he  was  laid  aside  from  the  labors  he  loved  so  well.  Dr.  Alexander  was  a 
large  and  strong  man  physically,  and  bore  a  striking  resemblance  to  the  famous  Dr. 
Guthrie,  of  Scotland,  when  he  stood  in  the  pulpit.  He  was  a  faithful  and  earnest 
preacher  of  the  Gospel,  sound  in  doctrine  and  strong  in  faith,  and  his  labors  in  the 
ministry  were  greatly  blessed.  He  died  in  Moundsville  on  the  26th  of  July,  1879, 
having  spent  fifty  years  of  his  life  in  the  active  work  of  the  ministry.  He  gave  to  the 
church  two  sons,  who  are  faithful  and  successful  ministers  of  the  word.  Rev.  Joseph 

25 


Kirkwood  Alexander,  ot  Morning  Sun,  Iowa,  and  Rev.  Walter  L.  Alexander,  pastor  of 
Rockhill  and  Coalbrook,  in  the  Presbytery  of  St.  Clairsville;  and  another  one,  Mr. 
William  Alexander,  of  Bridgeport,  of  whom  the  father  said,  that  he  was  well  satisfied 
that  he  was  doing  as  much  good  as  he  could  ever  have  done  in  the  ministry. 

1  )uring  the  pastorate  of  Dr.  Alexander  there  were  chosen  to  the  eldership,  John  Jep- 
son,  James  McConnell,  Robert  Smiley,  F.  H.  Brooks,  H.  H.  Fiske,  A,  C.  Work,  John 
Tate,  Sr.,  and  John  Porter.  These  were  all  conscientious  and  reliable  men,  ready  at  all 
times  for  the  service  of  the  Lord,  and  with  the  best  interests  of  the  church  at  heart. 
They  have  also  long  ago  passed  from  earthly  service.  About  this  time  there  were  two 
men  of  great  prominence  in  church  affairs,  who,  though  not  publicly  in  the  membership 
of  the  church,  took  a  deep  interest  in  everything  that  concerned  its  welfare.  They  were 
Hon.  Benjamin  Ruggles  and  Mr.  Joseph  Morrison.  Judge  Ruggles  was  a  man  of 
national  reputation,  and  in  the  foremost  rank  of  able  lawyers.  He  was  Judge  of 
Common  Pleas  Court  for  five  years  and  U.  S.  Senator  for  eighteen  years,  and  all  his 
life  filled  a  high  place  in  the  social  and  political  world.  He  was  distinguished  for  his 
liberality,  not  only  in  large  gifts  to  the  church  in  the  time  of  her  pecuniary  troubles, 
but  in  constant  and  private  acts  of  kindness  to  his  pastor,  in  which  his  wife  joined 
him  heartily.  This  unique  and  beautiful  pulpit  is  here  as  a  memorial  of  Benjamin 
Ruggles  and  his  wife,  Clarissa  Ruggles,  who  was  one  of  the  most  faithful  members 
this  church  ever  had,  placed  here  by  the  contributions  of  their  relatives  and  descend- 
ants, a  fitting  and  loving  tribute  to  their  worth.  Mr.  Morrison  also  rendered  invalua- 
ble services  in  those  days,  not  only  by  gifts,  but  by  superintending  the  building  of  the 
church,  in  a  faithful  and  intelligent  manner. 

The  only  members,  whose  names  are  now  on  our  church  roll,  who  united  with  the 
church  under  the  ministry  of  Dr.  Alexander,  are:  Mrs.  Adeline  Chambers,  Mrs.  Mar- 
garet Dick  and  Miss  Jane  Fulton. 

Supplies  were  sent  by  Presbytery  for  one  year  after  the  close  of  Dr.  Alexander's  pas- 
torate, and  then  a  call  was  made  for  the  services  of  the  Rev.  John  Moffat,  a  licentiate 
of  the  Presbytery  of  New  Lisbon,  in  August,  1847.  This  call  was  accepted,  and  he 
was  ordained  and  installed  pastor  in  June,  1848,  the  only  pastor  whose  ordination 
took  place  in  this  congregation.  Mr.  Moffat  was  born  in  Westerhall  Parish,  in  Scot- 
land, January  1st,  1816,  and  came  to  this  country  in  July,  1838.  After  uniting  with  the 
church  of  Middle  Sandy,  in  Columbiana  County,  Ohio,  he  prepared  for  the  ministry, 
pursuing  his  studies  in  New  Lisbon  Academy  and  in  the  Western  Theological  Seminary 
in  Allegheny,  Pa.,  and  was  licensed  to  preach  the  Gospel  in  June,  1847.  This  was  his 
first  pastoral  charge,  and  here  for  more  than  thirteen  years  he  preached  the  Gospel 

26 


with  great  earnestness  and  power.  He  believed  the  Gospel  sincerely  and  preached  it  to 
men  from  the  fulness  of  a  warm  and  earnest  heart.  A  season  of  considerable  awaken- 
ing was  enjoyed  in  1858,  in  which  thirty-two  persons  were  added  to  the  church,  and 
the  membership  was  greatly  revived.  Mr.  Moffat  resigned  this  charge  January  1st, 
1861,  to  become  pastor  of  Rockhill  and  Bellaire,  and  in  1863  was  called  to  the  Second 
Presbyterian  Church  of  Wheeling.  He  labored  there  with  great  acceptance  till  his 
health  failed  in  1871.  He  died  in  Wheeling,  December  27th,  1875.  He  also  gave  to 
the  church  a  son,  the  Rev.  Dr.  James  D.  Moffat,  of  Washington,  Pa.,  who  is  not  only 
distinguished  in  the  ministry,  but  is  one  of  the  most  successful  College  Presidents  of 
this  country. 

During  the  ministry  of  Mr.  Moffat  there  were  added  to  the  Session,  Samuel  Ramage, 
James  Hutchison,  John  Tate,  Jr.,  Thomas  T.  Thompson,  Samuel  B.  Work  and 
Samuel  Cunningham,  and  shortly  after  his  resignation,  and  while  the  church  was 
vacant,  there  were  added  Dr.  Henry  West,  William  Chambers  and  William  H. 
McBride.  There  are  now  upon  the  church  roll  the  names  of  only  twenty-six  persons 
who  were  in  the  membership  of  the  church  prior  to  1861  and  at  the  close  of  Mr. 
Moffat's  pastorate. 

After  the  resignation  of  Mr.  Moffat,  on  January  1st,  l86l,  the  pulpit  was  vacant  a 
few  months,  and  then  the  Rev.  David  R.  Campbell  was  called  to  this  field  of  labor, 
October  1st,  1861,  and  entered  on  his  duties  in  the  following  December.  He  was  a 
native  of  Washington  County,  Pa.,  born  March  20,  1820,  and  graduated  from 
Jefferson  College  in  1842,  and  from  the  Western  Theological  Seminary  in  1846.  He 
was  in  the  same  year  licensed  to  Preach  the  Gospel  by  the  Presbytery  of  Washington. 
Transferred  to  the  Presbytery  of  St.  Clairsville,  he  labored  as  a  stated  supply  at 
Woodsfield  and  Beallsville  for  some  time,  and  on  the  6th  of  October,  1847,  he  was 
ordained  to  the  work  of  the  ministry  and  installed  pastor  of  these  congregations.  He 
was  afterward  settled  at  Mt.  Prospect,  in  the  Presbytery  of  Washington,  and  then 
at  two  Ridges,  in  the  Presbytery  of  Steubenville,  from  which  place  he  was  called  here 
in  1861.  His  ministry  in  this  place  was  remarkably  successful  in  the  ingathering  of 
the  people  to  the  membership  of  the  church.  In  the  beginning  of  1862,  an  unusual 
interest  was  manifested  in  religion,  and  at  the  communion  in  March  twenty-two  per- 
sons made  a  profession  of  religion.  From  that  time,  the  spiritual  condition  of  the 
church  was  very  encouraging,  the  attendance  on  church  services  larger  than  usual,  and 
the  attention  of  hearers  marked  and  solemn.  This  interesting  state  of  things  continued 
for  three  years,  when,  in  1865,  the  gathering  clouds  of  mercy  burst  upon  the  people, 
and  the  most  powerful  and  glorious  revival  of  religion  took  place  which  was  ever  ex- 

27 


perienced  in  this  region.  The  careless  were  aroused,  the  stout-hearted  were  humbled, 
and  the  caviller  was  silenced.  All  were  forced  to  say,  "Behold,  what  hath  God 
wrought!"  The  subject  of  religion  was  the  general  theme  of  conversation,  not  merely 
as  the  people  met  at  church,  but  on  the  street,  in  the  store,  in  the  shop,  in  the  family 
circle,  and  everywhere.  The  immediate  result  of  this  work  of  grace,  was  the  addi- 
tion to  the  church  of  one  hundred  persons.  The  I9th  of  March,  1865,  will  long 
be  remembered  as  a  great  day  in  the  history  of  this  church,  when  so  many  stood  up  to 
take  the  vows  of  God  upon  them.  It  was  without  doubt  a  genuine  work  of  God's 
Spirit.  The  successful  labors  of  Dr.  Campbell  terminated  here  Feb.  18th,  1866,  and  he 
at  once  took  charge  of  the  Second  Presbyterian  Church  of  Steubenville,  Ohio.  There 
he  labored  also  with  great  zeal  and  success  for  five  years,  and  then  failing  health  com- 
pelled him  to  resign.  His  death  occurred  at  his  home  in  Steubenville  on  February 
25th,  1873.  Dr.  Campbell  was  a  man  of  deep  piety  and  sound  learning,  greatly  de- 
voted to  his  work  as  a  minister  of  the  Gospel  both  as  a  faithful  expounder  of  the  word 
of  God,  and  as  a  wise  and  judicious  and  untiring  pastor,  watching  over  the  flock, 
over  which  he  was  set  as  an  overseer. 

The  present  pastor  was  called  to  this  church  Sept.  22d,  1866,  but  did  not  enter  upon 
his  work  until  January  1  st,  1 867.  He  was  born  in  Belmont  County,  Ohio,  southwest  of 
Bridgeport,  on  the  l5th  of  June,  1837,  and  is  a  great-grandson  of  James  Alexander,  who 
settled  on  what  is  known  as  the  Scotch  Ridge,  in  Belmont  County,  in  1 798.  He  united 
with  the  Presbyterian  church  of  Rockhill,  April  1st,  1854,  under  the  ministry  of  Rev.  Dr. 
Benjamin  Mitchell.  His  early  life  was  therefore  spent  within  eight  miles  of  this  place, 
where  he  hasso  long  preached  the  Gospel.  He  attended  the  Linsly  Institute  in  Wheeling, 
spending  three  years  under  the  famous  teacher.  Rev.  Dr.  John  W.  Scott,  then  two  years 
in  Washington  College,  Pa.,  where  he  was  graduated  June  20th,  1855,  and  after  pur- 
suing a  full  course  of  theological  studies  in  Princeton,  New  Jersey,  took  an  annual 
course  in  Edinburgh,  Scotland.  On  the  6th  of  January,  1858,  he  was  licensed  by 
the  Presbytery  of  St.  Clairsville  to  preach  the  Gospel,  and  on  the  7th  of  August,  i860, 
was  ordained  to  the  ministry  by  the  Presbytery  of  Donegal,  in  Little  Britain  church, 
in  Lancaster  County,  Pa. ,  over  which  he  was  installed  pastor  at  the  same  time.  His 
pastorate  there  covered  a  period  of  more  than  six  and  a  half  years,  and  he  resigned  in 
December,  1866,  that  he  might  accept  a  call  from  this  church.  Beginning  his  labors 
here  January  1st,  1867,  his  installation  took  place  in  the  following  April,  and  by  the 
great  blessing  of  the  Lord  upon  us,  the  relation  continues  to  this  day.  We  can  de- 
voutly say,  only  goodness  and  mercy  have  followed  us  in  all  these  years.     He  has 


28 


been  with  us,  who  of  old  gave  the  promise  to  His  people,  *'  Lo,  1  am  with  you  always, 
even  to  the  end  of  the  world."  Under  the  divine  care  we  have  been  living,  and  to  His 
hand  we  trace  all  our  success.  "Not  unto  us,  O  Lord!  not  unto  us,  but  to  Thy 
name  be  the  glory."  Never  have  we  been  given  up  to  strife  or  confusion  or  great  re- 
ligious decline,  while  again  and  again  has  the  Lord  come  to  us  with  the  gracious  in- 
fluences of  His  Spirit,  to  refresh  and  strengthen  His  people  and  to  convert  and  save 
souls. 

During  this  pastorate  the  communion  has  been  observed  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
five  times,  and  seldom  has  such  a  season  passed  without  some  coming  into  our  mem- 
bership on  profession  or  certificate.  In  1873,  we  received  on  profession  41  persons;  In 
1877,  59  persons;  in  1879,  103  persons;  in  1886,  42  persons,  and  in  1893,  43  per- 
sons were  received.  In  all  other  years  there  have  been  accessions  in  smaller  numbers, 
till  in  the  aggregate  the  additions  to  this  church  in  the  present  pastorate  amount  to  795. 
Of  these,  549  were  on  profession,  and  246  on  certificate.  Of  the  membership,  156 
have  died,  and  339  have  been  dismissed  to  other  churches,  while  others  from  time  to 
time  are  placed  on  the  retired  list.  The  whole  present  membership  reported  to  the 
General  Assembly  is  410.  But  all  over  this  country  good  and  faithful  Christians  are 
to  be  found  who  have  gone  out  from  the  membership  of  this  church,  to  aid  other 
churches  and  to  be  valuable  helpers  in  every  department  of  church  work.  No  one  can 
tell  how  far  reaching  the  influence  of  a  church  is,  as  its  members  are  thus  scattered 
abroad,  families  and  individuals  reproducing  their  church  life  elsewhere. 

An  interesting  part  of  the  preparation  for  this  centennial  celebration  was  the  sending 
forth  of  invitations  to  former  members,  who  now  dwell  in  fifteen  States,  and  from  the 
Atlantic  to  the  Pacific.  So  great  is  the  work  that  has  been  done  in  this  congregation 
in  its  growth  and  advancement  in  these  passing  years. 

What  a  privilege  it  has  been  to  labor  for  Christ  in  the  last  half  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  in  the  midst  of  the  mighty  religious  movements  of  the  day,  with  harmony 
among  the  different  branches  of  the  church,  and  the  greatest  missionary  enterprises 
that  have  evertaken  place  since  the  ascension  of  the  Son  of  God.  There  never  was 
such  encouragement  to  go  forward  with  all  branches  of  Christian  work  as  in  these  last 
years.  New  opportunities  are  arising  on  every  hand — new  fields  opening  in  every 
quarter.  What  a  period  it  has  been  for  church  activity,  for  using  time  and  money  and 
labor  for  Christ.  This  church  has  not  stood  in  the  background  in  activity,  though  we 
often  feel  that  if  every  heart  was  interested  and  every  hand  engaged,  far  greater  things 
could  have  been  done.  In  the  first  forty  years  of  the  history  of  this  church,  little  or 
nothing  was  done  by  the  churches  in  outside  benevolence.     Occasional  collections  for 

29 


missions  were  taken,  but  no  organized  and  systematic  effort  was  made  to  propagate 
religion.  The  Boards  were  not  organized  and  the  people  were  not  called  on  to  sup- 
port them.  But  the  past  sixty  years  show  great  enlargement  and  advancement  in 
benevolent  work.  Within  that  time  this  church  has  given  to  benevolence,  and  outside 
of  our  local  expenses,  the  sum  of  $28,500,  with  perhaps  many  gifts  to  religious  ob- 
jects of  which  we  have  no  account.  Six  churches  stand  on  the  outskirts  of  this  con- 
gregation, one  of  them,  Wheeling  Valley,  organized  sixty  years  ago,  and  the  other  five, 
Farmington,  West  Brooklyn,  Coalbrook,  Bannock  and  Pleasant  Valley,  all  organized 
between  the  years  1870  and  1887,  and  all  of  the  six  encouraged  and  aided  by  the  pas- 
tors and  people  of  this  church,  and  without  that  aid  some  of  them,  perhaps,  would 
have  no  existence  to-day.  Instead  of  being  weakened  by  the  members  we  gave  to 
these  organizations,  and  the  money  we  gave  to  enable  them  to  build  their  houses  of  wor- 
ship, we  are  stronger  to-day  because  of  them,  as  they  stand  like  a  circle  of  forts  around 
us,  all  of  them  within  cannon  shot,  not  threatening  us,  but  strengthening  the  cause  of 
religion  and  Presbyterianism  in  all  this  region.  If  we  have  been  laboring  and  giving 
money,  it  has  been  to  some  purpose,  and  when  we  have  laid  our  offerings  before  the 
Lord,  we  believe  they  have  been  acceptable  in  his  sight. 

Whatever  has  been  proposed  and  urged  on  the  people  of  this  church,  at  least  in  the 
last  third  of  a  century,  they  have  bravely  undertaken  and  accomplished.  Nothing  un- 
reasonable or  impracticable  has  ever  been  proposed,  and  when  anything  has  been  un- 
dertaken, the  possibility  of  failure  has  never  been  recognized. 

The  first  money  the  present  pastor  collected  in  this  congregation,  was  for  the  pur- 
chase of  the  church  bell,  which  cost  $384,  and  was  manufactured  at  the  great  foundry 
of  Meneely  &  Co.,  West  Troy,  New  York.  For  thirty  years  and  more  it  has  been 
sending  its  sweet  tones  over  these  hills  and  vales,  calling  the  people  to  the  worship  of 
God.  May  its  voice  still  be  heard  when  the  next  Centennial  shall  come!  Since  that 
time,  one  expense  after  another  has  been  borne,  for  the  comfort  and  convenience  of 
the  church,  till  in  these  last  years,  this  beautiful  house  of  worship  has  been  erected  to 
stand,  as  we  hope,  as  a  meeting  house  for  the  worship  and  service  of  God,  for  genera- 
tions yet  unborn.  You  that  have  contributed  to  its  cost,  even  though  at  great  self- 
denial  and  sacrifice,  may  well  feel  that  this  is  the  best  investment  you  have  ever  made, 
for  yourselves  and  your  families,  and  the  community  in  which  you  live. 

The  Sabbath  school  has  been  helpful  in  this  church,  as  one  of  the  arms  of  its  activ- 
ity. In  the  first  thirty  years  of  the  history  of  the  church,  the  instruction  of  the  youth 
in  the  Bible  and  the  Catechism  rested  with  the  parents,  in  their  homes,  and  there  is  no 
suspicion  that  the  parents  in  those  eartier  years  neglected  their  duty.     But  about  sev- 

30 


enty  years  ago  a  movement  spread  through  the  churches  of  this  country  to  estabUsh  a 
more  systematic  study  of  the  Bible,  not  only  in  the  home,  but  in  the  church,  and 
though  many  looked  with  little  favor  on  the  innovation,  the  Sabbath  school  has  work- 
ed its  way  and  reached  many  who  had  no  home  training  nor  instruction.  No  doubt 
there  were  some  in  this  congregation  who  looked  with  little  favor  on  it,  but  it  had 
strong  advocates  and  earnest  friends.  Mr.  George  Anderson,  long  a  ruling  elder,  was 
the  first  Superintendent,  and  served  in  that  capacity  many  years.  He  was  a  most 
zealous  and  earnest  Christian,  and  until  his  death,  in  1862,  continued  to  take  the  deep- 
est interest  in  Sabbath  School  work.  The  work  he  began  has  been  carried  on  to  the 
present  time  with  good  success.  A  great  field  is  thus  open  for  wilUing  workers,  and 
in  it  through  all  these  years,  consecrated  and  faithful  ones  have  been  serving  the  Lord, 
in  sowing  the  seed  of  the  Kingdom  in  the  hearts  of  the  young.  The  ideal  Sabbath 
school  is  one  composed  of  all  the  people  of  the  church,  old  and  young,  engaged  in  the 
blessed  work  of  studying  God's  word.  The  nearer  this  is  realized  the  more  efficient 
the  work  will  be.     May  it  be  thus  in  coming  years  in  this  church! 

The  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society  was  organized  Nov.  1st,  1871,  and  was 
one  of  the  first,  if  not  the  very  first,  organized  in  the  Presbytery.  It  has  shown  the 
advantage  of  systematic  and  persistent  effort  for  Foreign  Missions.  By  far  the  greater 
part  of  the  money  given  to  this  cause  in  this  church,  in  the  last  quarter  of  a  century 
has  come  through  the  treasury  of  this  Society.  > 

The  Woman's  Home  Missionary  Society  was  organized  January  l6th,  1886,  and 
has  also  done  efficient  work  in  the  aid  of  Home  Missions.  The  monthly  meetings  are 
held  in  common,  but  the  funds  of  the  two  societies  are  kept  separate.  In  all  the  his- 
tory of  the  church  the  Christian  women  have  been  foremost  in  every  good  work,  with 
a  zeal  and  perseverance  that  overcame  all  things.  When  the  work  of  building  the 
present  church  was  undertaken  the  ladies  organized  a  Ladies'  Aid  Society,  whose  ob- 
ject was  to  raise  money  in  various  legitimate  ways  for  the  great  end  in  view.  The 
efforts  they  put  forth  were  persistent  and  untiring,  and  the  result  most  gratifying. 
More  than  $3,000  was  raised  as  the  result  of  their  self-denying  efforts. 

The  following  additions  have  been  made  to  the  Session  during  this  pastorate:  On 
June  4th,  1874,  Joseph  J.  Taggart  and  Robert  H.  Anderson;  On  June  20th,  1878, 
Henry  Daniel,  Samuel  R.  Finney,  Wm.  Lee,  Sr.,  John  A.  Grove  and  George  Jepson; 
on  June  1st,  1890,  Wm.  F.  Schumaker,  George  V.  Brown,  John  W.  Riley  and  John 
Elliott;  and  on  April  17th,  1898,  John  D.  Hays,  Addison  E.  Rusk,  Elbridge  G.  Amos, 
Louis  M.  Sutton  and  James  O.  Dixon.  One  of  these,  Mr.  Anderson,  is  a  nephew  of 
a  former  elder,  Andrew  Work;  Mr.  Jepson  is  a  son  of  a  former  elder,  John  Jepson; 

31 


and  two  of  them,  Mr.  Brown  and  Mr.  Sutton,  are  great-grandsons  of  David  McWil- 
liams,  who  took  a  most  active  part  in  laying  the  foundations  of  this  church,  and  was 
one  of  its  first  elders,  one  hundred  years  ago. 

Those  who  have  entered  the  ministry  from  the  membership  of  this  church  are  as 
follows:  Rev,  John  P.  Caldwell,  Rev.  Ebenezer  Henry,  Rev.  Wm.  R.  Work,  Rev.  W. 
Morris  Grimes,  Rev.  Boyd  M.  Kerr,  Rev.  Alexander  S.  McConnell,  Rev.  Hugh  White- 
ford  Parks,  Rev.  Sherman  H.  Doyle,  Ph.  D.,  and  Rev.  Geo.  H.  Feltus.  All  these 
have  passed  away  from  earth  except  Mr.  McConnell,  of  Deadwood,  South  Dakota, 
Mr.  Doyle,  of  Philadelphia,  and  Mr.  Feltus,  of  Watertown,  New  York.  The  three  of 
the  above  with  whom  the  people  of  this  day  are  best  acquainted,  and  who  entered  the 
ministry  under  the  present  pastorate,  are  Messrs.  Parks,  Doyle  and  Feltus.  Mr, 
Parks,  pastor  for  many  years  of  Beech  Spring  and  Hopedale,  died  July  29th,  1897, 
and  has  ""one  to  a  higher  service  and  a  glorious  reward,  but  the  others  are  in  active  and 
succesful  labor,  and  we  can  say  of  them  that  they  are  workmen  that  need  not  be 
ashamed,  nor  is  there  any  reason  why  this  church  should  be  ashamed  of  them. 

As  we  stand  to-day  and  look  back  upon  the  century  that  has  closed,  we  see  the 
lovin<^  hand  of  a  gracious  God  leading  this  church  onward,  from  a  small  beginning  to 
widening  power  and  influence,  as  the  years  roll  on;  generations  passing  away  and 
others  rising  up  to  fill  their  places;  the  workmen  dying  but  the  work  living  and  still 
carried  forward,  and  we  praise  God  for  all  that  his  people  have  been  able  to  do  in  His 
name.  The  foundations  were  laid  in  the  wilderness  by  the  faith  and  prayers  of  godly 
men  who  from  the  first  determined  that  where  they  dwelt  ,  there  God  should  be  wor- 
shipped, and  His  Gospel  should  be  preached.  The  Lord  has  put  honor  on  their  toil 
and  self-denial  and  zeal,  and  has  kept  this  church  through  all  dangers  and  trials  to  this 
hour.  He  surely  entered  into  covenant  with  all  these  pious  ones  of  the  past,  and  has 
been  to  this  day  fulfilling  His  promise,  "My  Spirit  that  is  upon  thee,  and  my  words 
which  1  have  put  into  thy  mouth,  shall  not  depart  out  of  thy  mouth,  nor  out  of  the 
mouth  of  thy  seed,  nor  out  of  the  mouth  of  thy  seed's  seed." 

Let  us  now,  in  conclusion,  turn  our  eyes  from  the  past  and  ask,  what  of  the  future? 
What  greater  and  better  things  are  to  be  done  by  this  church  than  the  fathers  ever  did? 
What  better  service  is  to  be  rendered,  and  what  greater  encouragement  shall  we  find  in 
the  work  of  the  Lord?  It  is  believed  by  wise  and  far-seeing  men  that  we  are  now  en- 
tering on  a  new  era  of  great  changes,  that  will  call  forth  the  faith  and  the  best  energies 
of  the  Church  of  Christ.  There  are  soon  to  be  opened  great  fields  for  missionary 
labor  of  which  the  fathers  never  dreamed,  and  of  which  we  did  not  think  a  little  while 
ago;  great  work  in  our  own  land  for  its  more  speedy  evangelization,  work  which  we 

32 


hardly  realize,  but  which  is  to  press  upon  us  as  it  has  never  yet  done.  We  must  bear  our 
part  in  this  onward  movement,  and  train  the  young  to  do  greater  and  better  things 
than  we  have  done.  This  church  is  not  to  rest  in  the  pleasant  memories  of  the  past, 
but  to  arise  and  gird  herself  for  greater  service.  You  of  the  present  have  done  things 
that  thirty  or  forty  years  ago  none  ever  dreamed  of  as  possible  in  this  congregation. 
All  this  shows  the  possibilities  of  the  future.  Greater  things  have  been  done  for 
Christ  than  ever  have  been  done,  in  gathering  souls  into  the  Kingdom,  in  cultivating 
the  piety  of  the  people,  and  in  making  greater  impressions  on  the  community  and  on 
the  world.  May  the  future  of  this  church  be  worthy  of  the  past.  Profiting  by  the 
mistakes  of  others,  inspired  by  their  zeal  and  encouraged  by  greater  facilities  for  labor 
and  clearer  knowledge  of  God's  will,  may  we  all  be  made  more  useful  in  God's 
service,  and  those  who  come  after  us  do  greater  things  for  Christ  and  the  church  than 
any  of  us  could  ever  have  done.  And  it  will  all  be  to  the  Glory  of  our  Lord  and 
Saviour. 


33 


(BreetitiGe  of  tbe  Communtti?, 

Hon.  Jesse  W.  Hollings worth,  Judge  of  the  Common  Pleas  Court,  brought  the 
Greetings  of  the  Community  in  the  following  address: 

Mr.  Chairman  and  Christian  Friends: 

It  affords  me  great  pleasure,  as  the  representative  of  the  citizens  of  St.  Clairsville 
and  vicinity,  to  welcome  to  our  midst  this  representative  body  of  one  of  the  dominant 
churches,  not  only  of  the  new,  but  of  the  old  world. 

The  generous  hospitality  of  our  people,  of  all  shades  of  Christian  belief,  is  too  well 
known  and  understood  by  all,  to  require  at  my  hands  a  word  of  commendation. 

We  preach,  and  profess  to  practice,  the  good  old  Bethlehemic  doctrine,  ' '  That  the 
stranger  within  our  gates  shall  be  as  welcome  as  one  born  among  us."  The  occasion 
that  has  convened  us  to-day,  with  all  it  symbolizes,  marks  this  as  one  of  the  most 
memorable,  as  well  as  the  most  significant  gatherings  ever  held  in  our  town;  a  town, 
too,  whose  civil  history  embraces  a  full  century  of  time.  Then,  my  friends,  it  would 
seem  supremely  befitting  that  as  a  Christian  organization  you  should  pause  as  you 
stand  to-day  upon  the  doorstep  of  the  twentieth  century  and  roll  back  the  scroll  of 
years,  and  review  the  grand  achievements  that  have  led  through  this  century  of  your 
church  life,  step  by  step  up  the  rugged  steepes  of  time  to  this  one  hundredth  mile- 
stone— sometimes  under  the  radiant  sunshine  of  a  blessed  prosperity,  sometimes  under 
the  sable  shadows  of  seeming  adversity. 

But  a  few  years  since  and  we  celebrated  the  one  hundredth  birthday  of  our  nation's 
civil  life,  with  the  pageantry  befitting  the  march  of  progress,  that  had  carried  us 
onward  to  the  zenith  of  our  matchless  powers,  and  raised  us  as  a  nation  to  our 
present  commanding  position  of  honor  and  respect  from  the  Empires  and  Kingdoms 
of  the  old  world. 

At  each  step  of  this  onward  march  of  progress  we  have  been  writing  pages  of  civil 
history  that,  through  the  aeons  of  time  will  live  on  after  us.  These  pages,  my 
friends,  point  to  us  this  lesson,  that  if  we  ever  realize  in  hope's  full  fruition  the  grand 
possibilities  that  God  in  His  eternal  fitness  and  ordering  of  things  has  made  it  possible 
for  us  to  achieve,  it  must  be  done  in  the  future,  as  in  the  past,  by  our  unfaltering  de- 
votion to  the  great  principles  that  make  for  our  lasting  peace  and  our  eternal  good. 

34 


Our  forefathers  met  and  mastered  the  great  questions  of  national  policy  that  involved 
our  nation's  civil  life,  and  our  perpetuity,  by  a  loyal  adherence  to  the  grand  cardinal 
principles  of  truth  and  justice,  upon  which  our  Republic  was  founded,  and  by  a  firm 
and  determined  negative  to  every  measure  that  was  in  conflict  with  them.  The  great 
principles  of  civil  and  religious  liberty,  for  which  they  so  bravely  contended,  could 
never  have  been  engrafted  upon  our  national  policy  by  any  compromise  with  tyrannical 
oppression  or  the  blighting  curse  of  bigotry,  or  civil  or  religious  intolerance. 

In  the  exercise  of  a  foresight,  directed  by  the  wisdom  of  God,  they  wove  a  warp  and 
woof  of  organic  law  that  was  as  broad  as  the  human  race  and  as  deep  as  its  sufferings 
and  its  necessities.  The  great  fundamental  doctrines  of  truth  they  laid  with  such 
care  were  not  alone  adapted  to  their  purposes  and  their  needs,  but  was  alike  adapted  to 
the  advanced  and  changed  conditions  that  confront  us  upon  the  threshold  of  this  twen- 
tieth century. 

When  this  mighty  ship  of  state,  freighted  with  its  institutions  of  civil  and  religious 
liberty,  was  launched  upon  the  seething  sea  of  active  life,  we  were  a  mere  handful  of 
colonists,  with  little  of  national  resources  but  the  sturdy  hearts  of  a  pioneer  ancestry, 
and  a  broad  expanse  of  country  templed  with  the  wild  and  virgin  forests  and  inhabited 
with  the  wilder  beasts. 

The  possibilities  of  art  and  science  were  the  mere  day  dreams  that  crept  upon  our 
visions.  The  limited  means  of  intercourse  we  enjoyed  with  the  great  world  outside 
made  us  peculiarly  a  nation  and  a  law  unto  ourselves.  In  this  pure  atmosphere  of 
quiet  were  the  firm  foundations  of  our  civil  and  religious  institutions  laid. 

But  the  humming  wheels  of  tireless  progress  soon  turned  us  into  the  sweeping  chan- 
nels of  development,  and  we  caught  up  the  spirit  of  the  times  and  set  about  the  devel- 
opment of  the  national  resources  that  characterized  our  new  world.  Step  by  step  we 
advanced  until  in  a  few  short  years  we  were  evolved  into  a  great  commercial  and 
industrial  people,  and  sent  our  flag  and  our  products  abroad,  until  to-day  we  thread 
the  farthest  wave,  wherever  the  enlightened  intelligence  and  ingenuity  of  man  has 
found  a  foothold. 

The  changeless  law  of  change  has  thrust  itself,  like  a  crested  wave,  upon  the  roll- 
ing, swelling  sea  of  human  progress,  until  to-day  we  stand  face  to  face  with  new  issues, 
new  relations  and  new  conditions. 

With  this  onward  march  of  civic  life  has  gone  hand  in  hand,  as  God's  helpmeet,  the 
Christian  organization  you  represent  to-day. 

The  pioneers  of  your  church  organization  caught  up  the  spirit  of  civil  and  religious 
liberty,  with  which  the  free  institutions  of  this  new  world  had  been  baptized,  and  you 

35 


have  kept  abreast  with  the  vanguard  in  the  work  of  Christian  civilization.  The  Pres- 
byterian Church  of  St.  Clairsville,  as  a  cogent  integral  of  the  universal  Presbytery  of 
God  on  earth,  has  through  this  century  of  its  Christian  life,  contributed  its  potent  influ- 
ence towards  the  upbuilding  of  the  Master's  kingdom.  Inspired  by  a  Christian  zeal 
born  of  a  love  for  the  eternal  God,  and  a  ceaseless  desire  for  the  elevation  of  the  great 
brotherhood  of  man  nearer  and  closer  to  the  Fatherhood  of  God,  you  have  reared  an 
imperishable  temple  to  His  honor  and  glory,  that, 

"As  some  tall  cliff  that  lifts  its  awful  form. 
Swells  from  the  vale  and  midway  leaves  the  storm, 
Though  round  its  breast  the  rolling  clouds  are  spread, 
Eternal  sunshine  settles  on  its  head." 

Again,  we  extend  to  you  all  a  most  hearty  greeting,  trusting  that  the  associations  of 
this  day  may  be  cherished  by  you  all  as  valued  souvenirs  all  down  your  life's  path- 
way; that  the  inspirations  born  of  this  hour  may  prove  incentives  to  you  to  enter 
upon  your  Christian  work  of  the  century  that  lies  before  you,  hoping  ever  and  pray- 
ing always  for  the  advent  of  that  glorious  day  when  the  ' '  mountain  of  the  Lord's 
shall  be  established  in  the  top  of  the  mountain,  and  shall  be  exalted  above  the  hills; 
and  all  nations  shall  flow  unto  it." 


36 


Ipreeentatton  Spcecb  anb  IRepl^, 

At  the  close  of  Judge  HoUingsworth's  address,  Mr.  George  Jepson,  one  of  the  Elders, 
came  forward  and  said  he  had  a  speech  to  make  that  was  not  put  down  on  the  pro- 
gramme, and  at  the  same  time  Mr.  Samuel  Campbell  came  from  the  session  room  at 
the  right  of  the  pulpit  bearing  a  handsome  case  of  silver  table  ware.  Mr.  Jepson 
spoke  as  follows: 

The  friends  of  Dr.  Alexander,  having  learned  that  this  was  the  anniversary  of  his 
birth,  have  prepared  and  asked  me  to  present  this  beautiful  case  of  silver  as  a  slight 
token  of  their  love  and  esteem  to  him  and  his  wife. 

Having  been  intimately  associated  with  our  beloved  pastor  during  the  whole  of  his 
life  in  our  midst,  I  probably  know  more  of  his  work  and  labor  of  love  than  most  of 
you,  and  I  knov/  that  his  only  thought  has  been  for  the  glory  of  the  Master  and  the 
good  of  this  people.  For  nearly  a  third  of  a  century  he  has  stood  between  the  living 
and  the  dead;  consoling  the  sorrowing,  sympathizing  with  the  bereaved,  and  bringing 
comfort  and  consolation  to  those  in  trouble. 

Dr.  Alexander  has  always  been  first  in  every  good  work.  He  is  a  born  leader  of 
men,  always  with  the  out-posts  at  the  front,  and  never  asking  others  to  undertake  any 
work  in  which  he  would  not  take  a  leading  part,  and  do  far  more  than  his  share. 

This  beautiful  church  building  is  his  monument,  and  I  firmly  believe  that,  but  for 
him,  it  would  never  have  been  built. 

In  all  his  work  here  he  has  been  most  ably  seconded  by  his  noble  wife,  and,  as  they 
have  grown  up,  his  most  helpful  and  dutiful  daughters,  who  are  a  constant  incentive 
to  good  works.  My  excuse  for  saying  all  this  is,  that  it  is  true,  and  1  bring  to  him  the 
good  wishes,  and  assure  him  that  he  has  the  earnest  prayers  of  his  people.  Dear 
friends,  let  us  tell  him  so.  You  have  no  idea  how  helpful  it  will  be.  How  much 
easier  his  work,  and  how  much  better  done,  when  he  knows  that  he  has  the  sympathy 
and  support  of  those  for  whom  he  labors. 


To  these  kind  words  the  pastor  replied: 

Dear  Friends:  It  is  not  easy  for  one  to  speak  under  such  circumstances.  I  cannot 
do  more  than  express  our  warmest  thanks  for  this  unexpected  gift  so  generously  be- 
stowed.   We  accept  it  as  an  expression  of  your  friendship,  and  will  always  cherish  it 

37 


as  such.  We  have  lived  and  labored  among  you  for  almost  a  third  of  a  century.  IWy 
wife  and  I  came  here  when  we  were  young  people,  and  have  given  you  the  best  service 
of  our  lives.  Our  children  have  grown  up  with  your  children,  and  have  never  known 
any  other  home  than  this.  How  much  of  love  we  have  received  in  these  passing 
years.  If  success  has  attended  our  labors  here,  it  is  because  of  your  co-operation  in 
every  good  work.  No  leader  can  ever  accomplish  anything  without  faithful  and  loyal 
followers.  No  pastor  can  ever  be  successful  without  the  respect  and  confidence  of  the 
people;  and  all  this  you  have  freely  given.  The  Savior  himself  said  "a  prophet  is 
not  without  honor  save  in  his  own  country."  But  here  is  an  exception;  for  my 
birth  place  was  almost  in  sight  of  this  spot;  in  childhood  and  youth  1  was  acquainted 
with  this  congregation;  yet  1  have  had  your  respect  and  honor  and  love  through  all 
these  years.  Again  we  thank  you  for  this  elegant  gift — and  for  all  these  kind  words 
that  have  been  spoken,  and  which  we  will  always  gratefully  remember. 


38 


iACrV-i  .    (>TLL>u:a^..^_^^l.t__  , 


PHOTO  BY  GUTEKUNST,    1880. 


evcetirxQQ  from  Sieter  Cburcbes, 

An  Address  by  Rev.  Thos.  Balph,  D.D.,  Pastor  of  the  United  Presbyterian  Church. 

Fathers  and  Brethren: 

I  count  myself  happy,  that  it  is  my  privilege  to  join  with  you  in  the 
Centennial  celebration  of  the  organization  of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  St. 
Clairsville.  An  event,  so  important,  which  is  the  sequence  of  such  a  past  history  as 
has  been  read,  a  history  which  is  so  marked  by  present  prosperity  and  blessings,  a  his- 
tory which  is  so  prophetic  of  a  brighter,  better  and  more  blessed  future,  demands  at 
your  hands  the  devout  commemoration  of  grateful,  loving  hearts,  as  is  given  this  day. 
This  event  is  a  monument  of  the  faithfulness  of  our  covenant  God  to  this  blood- 
bought  church.  "  My  kindness  shall  not  depart  from  thee,  neither  shall  the  covenant 
of  my  peace  be  removed,  saith  the  Lord  that  hath  mercy  on  thee." 

I  am  here,  not  to  sermonize,  but  to  bear  to  you,  brethren,  the  warm-hearted, 
(])hristian  greetings  of  the  sister  churches  of  this  community,  whose  history  for  nearly 
three  score  and  ten  years  has  run  parallel  with  your  own.  1  could  wish  that  my 
brother,  the  pastor  of  the  M.  E.  Church,  were  here  to  speak  for  himself,  whose  warm, 
brotherly  heart  and  catholic  spirit  is  in  closest  sympathy  with  you  to-day.  But  I  know 
he  will  endorse  the  salutation  that  I  bring.  While  we  march  under  somewhat  different 
banners,  and  we  would  not  on  this  occasion  minimize  these  differences,  yet  we  possess 
a  common  heritage  so  great,  so  precious  and  so  unifying  that  we  all  walk  together  as 
heirs  of  the  grace  of  life;  and  hence  our  greetings  are  most  cordial  and  sincere.  We 
bless  you  in  the  name  of  God.  We  greet  you  because  you  are  the  pioneer  Presby- 
terian church  in  Eastern  Ohio.  To  have  the  honor  of  planting  the  standard  of  the 
the  cross  in  the  "regions  beyond,"  in  new  territory,  is  a  consummation  devoutly  to  be 
wished,  and  to  maintain  that  standard  untarnished  for  a  century  is  a  double  honor. 

We  greet  you  because  of  the  faithful  maintenance  of  Presbyterian  polity  and  doctrine 
during  these  long  years.  You  have  kept  that  which  was  committed  to  you,  none  has 
taken  your  crown.  Fidelity  to  the  Westminster  standards,  pure  and  simple,  adherence 
to  Presbyterian  polity,  the  maintenance  and  promulgation  of  sound  doctrine  according 
to  the  Calvinistic  system,  the  divine  authority  inspiration  and  inerrancy  of  the  Word 
of  God,  the  doctrine  of  salvation  by  grace,  of  justification  by  faith  alone,  with  all  that 

39 


pertains  to  and  di:5tinguishes  Galvanism  from  other  systems,  has  been  proclaimed 
from  this  sacred  desk  with  no  uncertain  sound. 

We  greet  you  because  of  your  denominational  fidelity.  You  are  Presbyterians,  and 
we  honor  you  because  you  are  not  only  Presbyterians  in  name  but  in  fact.  We  recog- 
nize with  you,  that  the  onward  march  of  the  sacramental  host  to  ultimate  victory  will 
best  be  promoted  by  each  maintaining  the  truth  as  he  sees  and  understands  the 
truth,  and  wherein  we  are  otherwise  minded,  God  will  show  even  this  unto  us. 

We  greet  you  because  of  your  broad  charity,  catholicy  and  brotherly  love.  You 
recognize  that  no  man  is  Lord  of  the  conscience;  to  his  own  master  he  standeth  or 
falleth.  And  hence  it  is  that  the  communion  of  saints  in  the  fellowship  of  the  Gospel, 
in  Christian  intercourse  and  good  v^orks  has,  in  such  a  marked  degree,  characterized 
the  churches  of  this  community.  We  have  not  fallen  out  by  the  way,  for  we  are 
brethren. 

We  greet  you  because  of  your  Christian  activity.  Your  spiritual  eye  is  not  dimmed 
nor  strength  abated.  You  are  strong  and  vigorous  still  after  the  lapse  of  a  century. 
You  have  strengthened  with  these  rolling  years.  "Thy  youth  is  renewed  like  the 
eagle's."  Your  achievements  in  the  past,  and  they  have  been  many  and  great,  have  but 
fitted  you  for  the  greater  achievements  to  which  the  opening  twentieth  century  is  in- 
viting you.  That  you  will  broaden  your  vision;  that  your  outlook  will  take  a  wider 
range;  that  your  consecration  will  be  more  complete;  that  your  Christian  beneficence 
will  be  multiplied ;  that  desires  for  the  conversion  of  the  world  will  be  more  and  more 
the  burden  of  every  heart;  that  faith  will  be  stronger,  love  more  fervent,  holiness  more 
pervading,  spirituality  more  heavenly,  and  life  and  conduct  more  Christ-like,  are  expec- 
tations warranted  by  your  prophetic  history  of  the  past,  your  strength  and  vigor  of  the 
present,  and  the  demands  of  the  dawning  century,  which,  in  the  light  of  prophesy,  pre- 
sents an  arena  for  Christian  activity  and  achievement  such  as  the  world  has  never 
seen.     ' '  Gird  on  the  whole  armor  of  God." 

We  greet  you,  because  you  are  a  strong  advocate  of  every  public  virtue,  of  good 
citizenship,  and  Christian  citizenship,  of  every  moral  reform — an  advocate  of  every- 
thing that  is  elevating,  ennobling  and  sanctifying:  and  wielding  a  trenchant  blade  against 
the  vices  and  evils  of  the  day,  seeking  no  compromise  with  wrong  and  asking  no 
quarter. 

We  greet  you,  because  this  pulpit,  and  you  will  pardon  the  personality,  is  orthodox, 
evangelical,  safely  conservative,  and  sufficiently  liberal  and  aggressive.  A  pulpit  doc- 
trinal expository,  practical,  in  which  the  word  of  God  is  rightly  divided,  giving  to  each 
his  meat  in  due  season — milk  for  babes  and  strong  meat  for  those  "of  full  age,  who 

40 


by  reason  of  use  have  their  senses  exercised  to  discern  both  good  and  evil."  A  pulpit 
loved  and  respected  at  home,  honored  and  trusted  abroad,  and  that  has  "a  good  report 
of  them  that  are  without,"  the  occupant  of  which  is  both  a  preacher  and  a  pastor,  and 
one  that  so  excels,  as  that  it  is  difficult  to  say  whether  he  is  the  better  preacher  or 
pastor. 

For  these  and  many  other  reasons  that  cannot  now  be  enumerated,  we  bear  to  you 
on  this  centennial  anniversary  our  Christian  greeting.  We  rejoice  with  you  to-day. 
We  love  you  as  brethren.  We  admire  your  soundness  of  doctrine,  your  steadfastness 
in  the  faith,  your  perseverance  in  the  divine  life;  and  we  are  animated  by  the  hope  that 
the  future  may  be  more  abundantly  fruitful,  bright,  blessed  and  glorious  than  the  past. 

Our  prayer  is,  that,  "peace  may  be  within  thy  walls  and  prosperity  within  thy 
palaces." 

"And  now,  may  the  God  of  peace,  that  brought  again  from  the  dead  our  Lord 
Jesus,  that  great  Shepherd  of  the  sheep,  through  the  blood  of  the  everlasting  covenant, 
make  you  perfect  in  every  good  work  to  do  His  will,  working  in  you  that  which  is  well 
pleas-ing  in  His  sight,  through  Jesus  Christ;  to  whom  be  glory  forever  and  ever.  Amen." 


41 


(3reetinas  from  tbe  presb^^ter)?. 

An  Address  by  Rev.  W.  V.  Milligan,  D.D.,  of  Cambridge,  Ohio,  by  appointment 
of  the  Presbytery  of  St.  Clairsville. 

Mr.  Chairman  and  Brethren: 

I  highly  appreciate  the  honor  of  bearing  the  greetings  of  my  brethren  of  the 
Presbytery  of  St.  Clairsville  to  this  Centennial  Assembly.  I  esteem  this  privilege,  be- 
cause this  day  itself  will  live  in  the  memory  and  in  the  history  of  Presbyterianism;  and 
because  we  are  gathered  on  this  honored  spot,  where  the  Presbyterian  Church  on  this 
side  of  the  river  was  born. 

No  fabric  of  fiction,  woven  with  highest  skill,  can  surpass  the  story  of  this  morning. 
The  story  of  men  of  brave  hearts,  doing  and  daring  for  their  Master,  "the  arms  of 
their  hands  made  strong  by  the  hands  of  the  Mighty  God  of  Jacob."  What  we  as 
Presbyterians  are  holding  to-day,  as  a  possession,  is  not  our  blind  share  of  the  Church 
of  Christ,  tossed  out  to  us  impersonally  by  the  operation  of  chance;  but  our  God 
brought  us  right  here,  leading  us  by  the  hand.  These  pioneers  possessed  the  audacity 
of  faith,  and  we  have  entered  upon  the  peaceful  possession  of  it,  and  have  the  respon- 
sibility of  keeping  it. 

They  praised  Jehovah  with  a  psalm,  a  long  time  ago,  which  said,  "Thou  hast 
brought  a  vine  out  of  Egypt;  Thou  hast  cast  out  the  heathen,  and  planted  it."  God 
continued  to  repeat  that  process,  until  one  hundred  years  ago.  He  prepared  room  before 
it  at  St.  Clairsville,  and  the  keeping  of  this  vine,  that  has  been  filling  the  land,  has 
been  committed  to  successive  hands.  It  was  suggested  that  the  part  of  the  program  I 
should  try  to  fill  should  be  to  tell  somewhat  of  a  few  noble  men  I  knew  fifty  years  ago; 
a  kind  of  saddle-bags  fraternity,  on  horseback,  traveling  to  appointments  in  rude 
meeting  houses  far  apart. 

1  remember,  with  great  distinctness,  a  Presbytery  to  which  1  went  with  fear  and 
trembling,  and  before  me  to-day  rise  the  faces  of  Mitchell,  and  Alexander,  and  Moffat, 
and  Kerr,  Boyd,  Mattery,  Dool,  Armstrong,  Williamson,  Crawford,  Grimes,  Lane 
and  Mahaffey.  Three  of  these  honored  men  still  live — Dr.  Crawford  and  Dr.  Arm- 
strong, and  Rev.  Mr.  Boyd;  all  retired. 

The  sun  of  that  day  has  set  to  most  of  you,  and  out  of  the  night  I  shall  attempt  to 

42 


bring  out  a  portrait  or  two  of  flasli  light  pictures,  that  possibly  will  not  seem  to  the 
older  people  very  accurate  pictures. 

The  first  figure  that  rises  up  before  my  memory,  occupying  the  central  place,  and  of 
largest  proportions,  is  Benjamin  Mitchell.  It  is  possible  that  he  may  be  more  to  me 
than  to  others  the  embodiment  of  excellence,  because  he  was  the  first  minister  of 
Christ's  Gospel  upon  whom  my  conscious  eyes  rested,  and  afterwards  continued  fort- 
nightly to  look  into  his  kindly  face,  and  my  ears  heard  his  rich  expressive  voice  utter- 
ing the  Gospel  of  the  Son  of  God.  I  have  heard  no  other  man  who  so  continually 
spoke  with  tears;  his  masterful  voice,  tremulous  with  emotion,  possessing  a  person- 
ality that  convinced  you  that  there  v/as  a  heart  behind  it  all  that  yearned  for  your 
highest  welfare,  and  capacious  enough  to  take  in  a  whole  congregation.  He  reached 
his  climax  of  power  when  he  stood  at  the  head  of  a  communion  table,  with  long  rows 
of  bowed  heads  on  either  side  of  it,  and  told  of  the  sufferings  of  Calvary,  and  what  it 
was  for,  that  "He  was  wounded  for  our  transgressions  and  bruised  for  our  iniquities;" 
or  told  how  the  Lord  had  ' '  prepared  a  feast  of  fat  things  full  of  marrow,  of  wines  on 
the  lees,  wines  on  the  lees  well  refined,"  and  then  dropped  into  his  favorite  quotation, 
"Die  He  or  justice  w«s/,  unless  some  other  able,  and  as  willing,  pay  the  rigid  satisfac- 
tion, death  for  death." 

Dr.  Mitchell  was  a  favorite  in  our  homes.  He  had  dignity,  with  his  goodness,  that 
was  in  social  life  often  broken  up  with  a  convulsion  of  merriment,  that  shook  him  de- 
lightfully. The  children,  in  their  quiet  corner,  loved  to  hear  him,  and  wondered  if  he 
was  not  nearly  as  great,  and  as  wise,  and  as  holy  as  God.  When  the  catechism  hour 
came  we  trembled  lest  we  should  stumble,  because  we  would  not  appear  to  disadvan- 
tage before  him,  while  we  knew  that  his  sympathy  was  such,  that  he  would  say  "yes  " 
to  the  answer,  though  wrong. 

James  Alexander's  portrait  is  pictured  very  distinctly  on  the  cardboard  of  my  brain. 
A  commanding  figure;  brow  lifted  until  wrinkles  ran  across  his  forehead;  a  twinkle 
about  his  eyes  that  told  of  pleasure  in  his  heart;  lips  that  came  together  with  a  snap 
that  was  very  expressive  of  character,  that  meant  firmness,  that  meant,  "I  place  my- 
self right  here  to  stay."  Dr.  Alexander  and  Dr.  Mitchell  grew  into  companion  pieces, 
a  great  deal  together,  loving  friends.  Dr.  Alexander's  sermons  and  thoughts  were 
clearer  cut  than  the  other's,  and  he  made  a  clearer  analysis  of  his  subject.  Dr.  Mitchell  was 
more  diffusive,  flowing,  mellow;  and  attracted  general  attention  better  than  the  other. 
Lovely  and  pleasant  were  they  in  their  lives,  and  their  memory  is  revered  in  all  this 
region  where  their  work  was  done. 

One  other  picture  I  shall  attempt  to  draw — John  Moffat.     He  stood  in  the  Presby- 

43 


terian  pulpit  in  this  city  for  a  number  of  years,  and  here  I  knew  him  best.  Being  a 
schoolmaster  here  for  a  short  time,  I  attended  the  services  in  the  Presbyterian  church 
with  great  interest,  that  grew  on  me  every  week.  He  was  an  effective  orator,  without 
being  an  orator;  an  orator  from  the  forcefulness  of  his  thought,  and  the  great  earnest- 
ness of  his  manner.  His  temperament  was  nervous,  his  circulation  rapid,  his  face 
florid,  which  deepened  as  he  warmed  in  his  subject,  that  heightened  the  effectiveness  of 
his  speech.  A  man  of  great  popularity,  he  took  advantage  of  his  popularity  for  good 
purposes.  1  remember  a  personal  difficulty  springing  up  between  some  parties,  and  he 
said  in  his  pulpit:  "It  must  be  made  up,  or  you  will  see  my  face  no  more."  And  I 
think  that  it  was  heard  of  no  more.  It  was  my  fortune  to  be  here  when  the  famous 
Swedenborgian  debate  occurred.  Mr.  Moffat  was  a  prominent  figure  in  that  debate. 
He  was  not  a  logical  debater,  such  as  Dr.  Young,  of  the  Associate  Reformed  Church, 
who  stood  shoulder  to  shoulder  with  him,  but  had  just  as  much  to  do  with  its  success 
as  the  other.  When  I  was  a  boy  I  was  not  a  good  shot  in  a  squirrel  hunt,  but  I  knew 
just  how,  with  my  club,  to  scrape  the  bark  of  the  tree,  and  pound  the  bushes  and  the 
logs,  and  make  him  move  out  of  his  hiding  place,  make  him  move  until  the  more 
skilful  marksman  would  see  where  he  was.  Mr.  Moffat  got  up  an  "  arousement "  in 
fine  style  all  through  that  famous  debate. 

These  men  and  their  companions  were  the  people  that  took  up  the  mantles  of  the 
Elijahs  of  one  hundred  years  ago. 

The  beautiful  myth  says,  when  Theseus  was  sent  to  King  Minos  with  a  company  of 
youths  and  maidens  to  be  sacrificed  to  the  Minotaur,  which  dwelt  in  a  cavern  of  a 
thousand  twisted  alleys,  Theseus  said:  "Send  me  in  first,  and  I  will  fight  and  kill  the 
monster,"  Ariadne  had  conceived  a  passion  for  the  manly  Grecian,  and  as  he  started 
in  she  handed  him  a  clue  of  threads,  that  he  might  know  how  to  come  back  out  of  the 
mazes  of  the  labyrinth.  These  grand  men  of  the  past  had  the  clue,  and  they  put  it 
firmly  into  the  hands  of  the  children,  and  fastened  it  with  great  care  to  their  fireside 
altars,  to  the  church  pew,  to  the  pulpit,  and  to  the  communion  table.  May  we  furnish  the 
clue  as  faithfully,  and  fasten  it  as  strongly,  that  the  monsters  that  have  grown  up 
about  us,  may  be  pounded  to  death.  These  noble  men  bore  their  burdens  bravely, 
until  He  who  called  and  sent  them,  said,  "Thou  shalt  rest  and  stand  in  thy  lot  at  the 
end  of  the  days."  These  men  were  successful  because  they  were  men  of  character.  They 
were  manly  men;  they  were  gentlemen — manly  men  and  gentlemen,  with  the  grace  of 
God  in  their  hearts.  If  they  seemed  somewhat  unpolished,  it  was  designed  on  their 
part;  for  they  would  be  "all  things  to  all  men,  that  by  all  means  they  might  gain  some." 
Men  of  learning,  but  not  using  it  as  a  snare;  shunning  profane  and  vain  babblings; 

44 


preaching  a  plain,  unvarnished  gospel. 

Dr.  Guthrie  says  a  flood  rose  and  spread  over  some  lowlands  in  Scotland.  A  man 
fell  into  the  flood  and  was  carried  by  a  current  out  from  shore,  and  caught  upon  a  tree 
and  climbed  into  the  branches.  From  the  shore  they  knew  no  way  to  reach  him,  and 
night  coming  quickly  on,  in  the  morning  they  found  the  tree  was  gone  and  the  man 
had  perished.  One,  who  was  esteemed  a  fool  among  the  wise,  said:  "1  could  have 
saved  him,  I  would  have  dropped  a  float  into  the  water  just  where  he  fell  in,  and  the 
same  current  that  carried  him  there  would  have  carried  the  float  to  the  same  tree." 

How  carefully  these  teachers  of  the  past  taught,  that  Jesus  was  born  into  the  world 
as  we  are,  yet  without  sin,  but  allowed  himself  to  be  carried  by  the  same  current  that 
sin  created,  where  we  are  struggling  for  life,  that  we  may  lay  hold  upon  Him  and  He 
upon  us.  He  goes  down  under  the  flood  with  us,  but  it  is  not  possible  that  He  should 
be  holden  ot  death,  and  so  if  we  are  united  to  Him  by  faith,  and  die  with  Him,  it 
is  not  possible  that  we  should  be  holden  of  death  either. 

Our  fathers  were  men  of  strong  convictions,  and  held  their  opinions  tenaciously, 
and  frequent  disputations  occurred  between  those  of  different  churches,  over  their  dif- 
ferences. And  it  may  be  a  question  whether  we  have  not  gone  to  the  other  extreme. 
They  exercised  their  office  with  care.  They  would  have  asked  Saul  why  he  thought 
he  was  called  to  be  an  Apostle.  When  the  Holy  Ghost  called  one  to  be  an  overseer,  he 
took  care  of  the  flock  of  God.  He  wanted  to  know  why  one  thought  he  was  called  to 
be  a  professor  of  religion  before  he  was  admitted  to  the  Lord's  table,  and  as  often  as 
the  observance  was  repeated,  they  required  him  to  secure  a  "token"  that  his  Christian 
conduct  in  the  meantime  was  approved  by  the  "Elders." 

The  pastor  discoursed  at  length  on  what  would  disqualify  for  going  to  the  table  of 
the  Lord  before  anybody  was  invited,  that  nobody  might  through  ignorance  or  pre- 
sumption come  without  the  wedding  garment. 

We  smile  at  the  tenacity  with  which  they  clung  to  forms  when  they  were  no  longer 
of  use.  We  remember  the  insistance  of  some  of  the  dear  old  people,  that  reading  two 
lines  of  a  hymn  before  singing  was  an  essential  of  religious  worship.  A  good  old 
elder  once  demanded  of  me  some  scripture  showing  that  it  was  right  to  sing  without 
lining  before  abandoning  the  custom. 

If  any  of  these  good  people  made  any  trouble  in  heaven  when  they  got  there,  it 
would  most  Ukely  be  because  they  could  not  consent  to  change  their  forms  of  worship. 
Nevertheless,  let  us  beware  lest  the  looseness  of  the  forms  of  our  modern  Christianity 
allow  the  devout  spirit  our  fathers  possessed  to  escape  and  slip  away. 


45 


Z\)c  leiberebip  of  St.  Clairevllle. 

An  Address  by  Mr.  William  Alexander,  of  Bridgeport,  a  son  of  Rev.  Dr.  James 
Alexander,  who  was  Pastor  from  1839  to  1846. 

Christian  Friends: 

In  the  year  1839  my  father  came  to  St.  Clairsville.  The  old  National  road  was  then 
the  great  highway  from  the  East  to  the  West.  Mail  coaches  and  passenger  coaches 
carried  our  letters  and  the  travelers.  Scores  of  wagons — schooners,  as  some  one 
named  them — with  their  belled  teams,  carried  the  products  of  our  country  from  us  and 
in  return  brought  the  merchant  his  stock.  No  railroad  then,  no  telegraph,  no  tele- 
phone, no  express,  no  photographs,  no  snap-shots — but  O!  such  splendid  scenery  along 
this  pike,  and  the  mute,  but  beautiful  and  solid  and  well-proportioned  and  mechanically 
finished  mile-stones,  pointing  the  way  and  telling  the  distance,  but  also  in  outline  tell- 
ing that  men,  honest  men,  skilled  workmen,  had  wrought  in  the  quarry  and  brought 
forth  good  work,  square  work,  such  work  as  has  for  seven  decades  been  approved  by 
master  workmen.  Some  one  has  said  that  "each  man's  hearthstone  is  the  mile-stone 
from  which  he  measures  all  the  distances  of  life."  "A  boy's  will  is  the  wind's  will, 
and  the  thoughts  of  youth  are  long,  long  thoughts." 

You  will  pardon  me  for  reference  to  some  incidents  stored  away  in  memory's  deposi- 
tory during  the  five  or  six  years  of  boyhood's  home  life  here.  I  love  to  look  at  these 
old  mile-stones,  these  honest,  true  way  marks.  For  these  men  were  also  true  men,  honest 
men,  that  lived  for  a  purpose,  and  have  had  their  work  approved;  and  of  them  1  have 
a  boy's  impressions.  You  will  remember  the  story  in  the  old  school  book,  of  the  widow 
of  Tyrol  and  her  crippled  child,  and  how  she  in  her  poverty  went  up  on  the  mountain 
side,  and  there  by  her  self-denial  and  toil  earned  scant  living  for  the  cripple  and  herself. 
One  day  the  children  of  the  village  came  out  to  play  under  the  trees  on  the  mountain 
side.  The  mother  carried  her  lame  boy  where  he  could  see  them  in  their  plays;  but 
the  day  went  fast,  and  the  sun  was  dipping,  and  the  boy  was  left  alone.  Then  his 
heart  ached.  The  mother  came  to  take  him  home,  and  found  him  weeping  and  la- 
menting his  helpless  condition,  which  the  playing  of  the  children  had  brought  before 
him  as  he  never  saw  it  before.  He  begged  her  to  leave  him,  the  helpless,  useless  one, 
to  die.   The  mother  said,  "Hans,  Hans,  have  I  not  told  you  often,  'God  has  a  plan  for 

46 


every  man,  a  work  for  me  to  do. ' "  He  would  not  be  comforted  and  begged  her  to  leave 
him  there.  After  she  had  gone,  he  thought  of  what  the  men  had  told  his  mother,  that  they 
kept  on  the  mountain  top  wood  and  tinder  and  flint  and  steel,  and  for  what?  The  danger 
signal,  so  that  if  the  hated  French,  their  enemies,  came,  the  signal  fire  could  be  lighted 
and  the  country  be  aroused.  His  mind  was  aroused,  and  by  great  exertion  he  climbed 
to  the  mountain  top.  He  found  the  tinder  and  the  flint  and  the  steel  there,  as  was  re- 
ported. But  a  noise  attracted  his  attention,  and  looking  over  the  mountain  he  saw 
men,  soldiers,  yes  the  enemies  of  Tyrol.  "God  has  a  plan  for  every  man,  a  work  for 
me  to  do."  he  thought,  and  quickly  he  lighted  the  signal  fire;  and  soon  others  were 
lighted  on  every  mountain  top,  and  Tyrol  was  in  arms  to  guard  the  passes  and 
drive  back  the  enemy.  When  all  was  safe,  the  question  was  asked,  '  'Who  saved  us?  Who 
discovered  the  enemy  and  lighted  the  first  signal  pile?"  When  it  was  known  that  the 
widow's  crippled  boy  had  discovered  the  enemy  and  kindled  the  first  signal  fire,  they 
gathered  at  the  humble  home  to  find  that  the  signal  fire  that  warned  them  of  danger 
revealed  the  poor  cripple  to  the  deadly  aim  of  a  French  soldier.  The  mother  had 
found  him  wounded  and  dying,  and  had  carried  him  home.  As  he  lamented  over  his 
mother,  left  alone  after  he  should  die,  the  grateful  people  assured  him  they  would  care 
for  her;  she  would  be  their  mother,  and  her  pension  would  be  ample.  The  monu- 
ment they  raised  over  him  said,  "He  saved  Tyrol,"  and  "God  has  a  plan  for  every 
man — a  work  for  me  to  do." 

When  I  look  back  and  think  of  the  men  of  one  hundred  years  ago,  the  men  that 
blazed  the  way  for  the  coming  engineer;  good  men,  true  men,  tower  up  before  me  as 
mile-stones — way  marks;  men  who  builded  with  their  own  hands  the  log  churches  and 
log  school  houses,  and  kindled  the  signal  piles  to  tell  of  the  enemy.  Although  they 
have  gone,  they  made  it  possible  for  us,  who  have  entered  into  their  labors — by  tradi- 
tion— I  like  that  word,  (the  handing  over,  giving  possession  of  the  title  in  law)  to  show 
to  others  the  way,  the  truth  and  the  life — the  Christ  life. 

Let  me  name  David  McWillams,  William  McWilliams,  James  McConnell,  William 
Ramage,  Arthur  Irwin,  Robert  Laughlin  and  John  Perry,  among  the  first  Elders  of  this 
church.  Some  of  them  had  gone  before  1839.  I  remember  well  that  good  man,  that 
true  man,  David  McWilliams.  I  have  seen  him  at  church,  the  old  church  that  was 
burned,  and  often  in  his  kindly  visits  to  my  father,  generally  on  Monday.  How  all 
respected  that  man!  He  was  a  great  light  in  this  church.  Men  honored  him,  and 
boys  respected  him  and  would  take  off  their  hats  to  him.  He  reminded  me  of  Pilgrim 
in  the  old  edition  of  Pilgrim's  Progress,  when,  with  stalf  in  his  hand  he  wended  his  way 
into  town.     1  often  heard  him  tell  of  the  trials  of  the  early  settlers  of  this  neighbor- 

47 


hood,  and  of  the  log  churches  that  they  had  down  by  the  cemetery.  1  remember  see- 
ing some  of  the  logs  of  one  of  these  old  churches.  I  will  give  you  the  following  story 
which  1  heard  from  David  McWilliams,  and  which  1  understood  to  be  his  personal  ex- 
perience. At  one  time  game  appeared  to  be  scarce,  and  they  were  short  of  meat. 
After  several  long  hunts  they  were  still  in  want,  When  the  Sabbath  day  came  he  arose, 
and  looking  out  of  the  window  at  the  rear  of  his  cabin,  he  saw  a  fine  deer  drinking,  or 
licking  for  salt,  near  the  spring.  He  reached  for  his  rifle  on  the  wooden  hooks  that 
held  it  overhead,  and  as  he  was  about  to  open  the  door,  he  remembered  it  was  the 
Sabbath.  The  rifle  was  put  back  in  its  place,  for  he  remembered  the  Sabbath.  These 
men  "remembered  the  Sabbath  day  to  keep  it  holy."  On  Monday  morning  he  awoke, 
and  thinking  of  his  experience  of  the  previous  day,  he  went  to  the  window,  and,  to  his 
surprise,  there  stood  a  fine  buck  in  about  the  same  place.  He  took  down  the  trusted 
rifle  again,  and  softly  opening  the  door,  rested  the  gun  on  the  frame  and  fired.  He 
knew  he  had  his  game,  but  imagine  his  astonishment  when  he  went  to  secure  it,  that 
there  were  two  dead  deer.  A  beautiful  doe  had  stood  close  beside  the  buck,  and  his 
one  shot  had  killed  both.    This  was  his  reward  for  keeping  the  Sabbath. 

James  McConnell  was  a  man  of  fine  presence  and  generous  disposition,  always 
ready  to  do  his  part,  and  his  sage  counsel  and  worthy  example,  attracted  attention  and 
won  the  confidence  of  all. 

There  were  many  others  I  remember,  but  cannot  speak  of  them  at  length.  Andrew 
Work,  followed  by  his  son,  A.  C.  Work,  and  his  son-in-law,  Samuel  Cunningham, 
and  Humphrey  Alexander,  all  earnest  Christian  men.  A  quiet  but  very  exemplary 
man  was  George  Anderson,  whom  we  boys  called  "Uncle  George,"  quick  and  active  to 
the  day  of  his  death.  I  can  hear  him  sing  his  favorite,  Benevento,  whenever  the  meter 
would  suit.  He  was  the  Superintendent  of  the  Sabbath  school,  and  was  always  on 
time,  for  his  regular  rising  time,  Sunday  and  Monday,  summer  and  winter,  was  five 
o'clock  a.  m.  Of  John  Rankin  and  Andrew  P.  Happer  I  can  tell  you  but  little,  for  I 
only  heard  of  their  good  deeds.  Andrew  P.  Happer  lived  in  that  house  in  "Frog  Hol- 
low," just  this  side  of  Judge  Kennon's  house.  Look  at  the  stone  work  and  the  car- 
penter work  in  that  house,  that  has  stood  seventy  years,  and  you  will  be  able  to  know 
something  of  a  man  that  was  a  near  relative  and  whose  piety  and  sage  counsel  were 
the  inspiration  of  that  eminent  minister  and  physician  who  did  so  much  for  China, 
Rev.  Dr.  Andrew  P.  Happer. 

Franklin  Bell,  firm  as  a  rock,  staid  and  true,  was  always  ready  to  stand  up  for  the 
right. 

John  Jepson,  known  to  many  of  you,  crippled  for  life  at  the  barn  raising  on  the 

48 


Lambert  Pond  place,  but  having  a  will  that  helped  cement  the  broken  bones  and  enabled 
him  to  overcome  every  disadvantage  and  do  a  good  work  through  a  long  life,  not  only 
with  you  but  also  in  the  city  of  Wheeling  for  some  years,  and  then  returning  to  you 
full  of  life  and  hope. 

But  time  will  not  allow  me  to  speak  of  many  of  these  way  marks,  old  way  marks 
that  stand  out  so  distinctly  in  the  past.  1  remember  John  Tate,  Sr.,  and  also  H.  H. 
Fiske.  He  it  was  who  sold  the  maps  of  Ohio,  that  Hugh  Anderson,  that  wonderful 
engraver  of  copper  plate,  executed,  who  indeed  made  almost  all  the  bank  note  plates 
for  all  Eastern  Ohio  Banks. 

But  I  must  say  something  of  my  old  teacher,  F.  H.  Brooks.  He  came  to  you  from 
Massachusetts,  and  opened  a  female  seminary  and  an  academy,  which  were  far  beyond 
any  like  institutions  in  much  larger  places.  They  were  an  inspiration  to  the  cause  of 
higher  education,  and  were  patronized  by  many  from  a  distance,  and,  I  will  say,  were 
supported  and  assisted  by  many  of  the  best  citizens  of  this  community.  His  health 
failed,  and  the  hard  times  of  1842  brought  discouragements.  He  took  a  position  with 
a  large  publishing  house,  and  was  a  very  successful  agent.  He  went  aboard  the  ill- 
fated  steamer  Moselle  at  Mobile.  A  porter  in  that  city  once  pointed  out  to  me  the 
spot  where  he  with  many  others  lost  their  lives  by  that  terrible  explosion.  He  was  a 
fine  scholar  and  a  cultured  and  Christian  gentleman  wherever  he  was.  Many  men 
look  back  to  that  old  academy  and  give  Franklin  H.  Brooks  credit  for  the  founda- 
tion of  their  attainments. 

Time  will  not  permit  me  to  mention  more  of  these  solid  way  marks — men  of  char- 
acter, of  this  church  and  other  churches. 

Having  entered  into  their  labors,  what  are  the  lessons  we  should  gather?  What  is 
our  duty?  What  is  our  responsibility?  These  men  were  thinkers  and  men  of  action 
and  duty.  Their  greatest  wealth  was  character — character  was  the  heritage  they  left. 
The  progress  of  the  century  is  wonderful.  The  advance  of  civilization,  education  and 
mechanical  development  is  almost  beyond  comprehension.  The  old  wayside  smithy 
has  disappeared.  The  great  mills  and  furnaces  belch  forth  night  and  day,  producing 
thousands  of  tons  of  moulded  and  shaped  products.  With  all  this  has  come  a  massed 
population  and  a  greater  need  of  large  and  strong  character.  The  question  for  us  is, 
are  we  going  to  maintain  it,  nourish  and  develop  it?  Are  we  going  to  increase  char- 
acter. Christian  character?  Do  some  say  the  church  is  losing  her  power?  Does  she 
not  portray  the  Christ  character?  He  gave  us  rich  heritage,  but  said,  "  Ye  are  my 
witnesses."  Are  we  true  disciples,  pointing  the  way — living  the  life — handing  over  the 
very  Christ  life  unto  others?     There  is  no  society  nor  association  that  evil  doers  or 

49 


wicked  interests  fear  more  to-day  than  they  do  the  power  of  the  church.  Why? 
Because  they  know  that  in  some  home  a  mother  of  great  rehgious  faith  is  moulding 
the  Hfe  of  a  boy,  or  a  father  or  faithful  teacher  handing  over  to  that  boy  a  character 
that  will  in  his  day  undo  their  wicked  deeds.  The  rewards,  the  comforts,  the  joys  of 
this  life  are  many,  but  I  know  of  none  greater  than  that  of  the  Christian  mother  or 
father,  or  faithful  teacher,  that  is  handing  over  the  title  of  character,  that  is  to  live,  to 
be,  to  do,  may  he  to  suffer  for  Christ's  truth. 

I  met  a  lady  one  day  on  the  streets  of  Columbus,  a  child  of  old  Mt.  Pleasant  church. 
I  knew  her  mother,  a  saint.  That  woman  had  followed  her  class  to  the  camp,  and  had 
followed  them  to  Tampa.  Letters  come  to  her  daily  from  them.  She  teaches  a  class 
every  Thursday  at  the  Old  Ladies'  Home  in  Columbus.  When  I  met  her  she  was  getting 
clothing  for  the  needy  of  a  deceased  minister's  family.    Is  this  handing  over  the  Christ? 

Brethren  of  the  Eldership,  let  us  be  true  disciples,  true  to  duty.  Stand  by  the  right — 
the  Christ  right.  "Walk  about  Zion,  go  round  about  her,  tell  the  towers  thereof, 
mark  ye  well  her  bulwarks,  consider  her  palaces,  that  ye  may  tell  it  to  the  generation 
following." 

One  who  was  once  among  you,  a  lady  dead  for  fifty  years,  told  me  of  her  old  pas- 
tor who  at  family  devotions  would  pray  for  his  children  and  his  children's  children. 
The  children's  children's  children  of  David  McWilliams  still  serve  you  in  the  same  re- 
lation as  that  father  in  Israel  did. 

Young  men,  may  1  not  say  a  word  to  you?  Many  of  you  I  know  take  'The  Book 
as  the  revelation  of  God,"  the  principles  of  Christian  faith,  and  quote  its  rules  of  prac- 
tice. Why  not  as  true  men  then  confess  Him  before  men,  whose  life  you  point  to, 
whose  death  you  acknowledge,  and  whose  resurrection  you  point  to  and  celebrate. 
You  take  the  cross  and  crown  of  victory  and  wear  it  as  a  badge  of  your  faith.  Why 
not  as  a  loyal  soldier  enlist  in  the  ranks  and  defend  the  right  and  follow  His  leadership, 
and  thereby  by  tradition  and  example  hand  down  the  Christ  life,  the  Christ  character? 
Has  it  not  been  done  by  the  men  that  we  have  named  of  this  church,  and  those  of 
sister  churches — such  men  as  William  Templeton,  John  Patterson  and  Solomon  Bent- 
ley,  Sr..  of  the  U.  P.  Church,  and  Matthew  Thoburn  and  William  Kennon,  and  other 
Godly  men,  of  the  M.  E.  church,  who  laid  the  foundations  here.  Young  men,  stand 
fast  and  hold  the  traditions  which  ye  have  been  taught.  Let  me  close  the  words  to 
you  men — young  men — by  quoting  the  following  closing  sentences  of  Bishop  Law- 
rence, of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  in  his  address  to  the  class  of  '98,  of  the 
Ohio  State  University.  "The  richest  gift  that  any  of  you  can  make  in  this  world  is 
that  of  a  strong,  saintly  and  Christian  character.    As  we  run  our  eyes  back  over  the 

50 


vista  of  centuries,  it  is  not  the  makers  of  great  fortunes,  the  selfish  conquerors,  the  in- 
teresting cynics,  or  the  pleasure  seekers,  that  our  eye  rests  on  with  satisfaction,  but  the 
figures  of  those  who  in  the  battles  for  humanity,   in  the  routine  of  duty,  and  in  the 
heroic  work  of  sacrifice,  have  lived  and  died  for  the  people." 
Such  men  and  woman,  we  in  the  words  of  Matthew  Arnold,  hail: 

"  Thus  in  the  hour  of  need 
Of  your  fainting,  dispirited  race. 
Ye,  like  angels,  appear 
Radiant  with  ardor  divine. 
Beacons  of  hope  ye  appear! 
Languor  is  not  in  your  heart; 
Weakness  is  not  in  your  word; 
Weariness  not  on  your  brow. 
Ye  alight  in  our  van!     At  your  voice, 
Panic,  despair,  flee  away. 
Ye  move  through  the  ranks,  recall 
The  stragglers,  refresh  the  outworn. 
Praise,  reinspire  the  brave; 
Order,  courage,  return; 
Eyes  rekindling  and  prayers 
Follow  your  steps  as  you  go. 
Ye  fill  up  the  gap  in  our  files, 
Strengthen  the  wavering  line, 
Stablish,  continue  our  march. 
On  to  the  bound  of  the  waste, 
On,  to  the  City  of  God." 


51 


ZTbe  Scotcb-IFrieb  preabi^tcriane. 

By  Rev.  David  A.  Cunningham,  D.D.,  L.L.D.,  Pastor  of  the  First  Presbyterian 

Church  of  Wheeling,  W.  Va. 

Members  of  this  Church  and  Congregation  and  Fellow  Citizens: 

At  a  great  missionary  meeting  in  Chautauqua,  New  York,  I  was  once  introduced  by  a 
gentleman  who  was  presiding,  and  who  knew  little  of  my  antecedents,  in  these  words: 
"  Ladies  and  gentlemen:  You  have  been  addressed  by  a  couple  of  native  Americans, 
and  it  now  affords  me  pleasure  to  introduce  as  the  next  speaker,  one  who  was  born 
among  the  heather  hills  of  Scotland,  on  the  other  side  of  the  Atlantic."  1  began  my 
address  by  stating  that  I  claimed  a  better  birthright  than  that;  my  father  and  my 
grandfather  were  born  in  the  north  of  Ireland,  and  their  ancestors  had  come  from 
Scotland,  but  that  I  had  the  honor  to  be  a  Scotch-Irish  American  Presbyterian,  born  at 
a  later  date  in  the  State  of  Ohio.  This  will  partly  account  for  my  presence  here  on  this 
centennial  occasion. 

If  there  are  any  of  you  here  to-day  who  do  not  happen  to  be  of  Scotch-Irish  descent, 
do  not  feel  badly  nor  slighted  if  I  do  not  say  much  about  you,  for  it  is  of  the  Scotch- 
Irish  Presbyterians  I  am  to  speak.  There  are  many  pleasant  and  interesting  things  I 
could  say  about  you  and  your  ancestry,  but  that  is  not  my  theme. 

Let  us  inquire.  Who  are  the  Scotch-Irish  Presbyterians?  Whence  came  they?  And 
what  made  them  the  men  and  women  they  are?  These  questions  can  only  be  touched 
on  in  my  limited  time. 

About  the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth  century,  the  Lowland  Scot  begins  to  show 
himself,  and  for  two  centuries  is  tried  and  disciplined  and  sifted  by  battles  with  soil 
and  weather,  and  battles  with  southern  English  and  northern  Gael.  During  that  period 
he  struggles  with  poverty  and  politics,  confessions  and  theology,  and  at  last  under  the 
sealing  and  finishing  hand  of  John  Knox,  he  stands  forth  the  man  fitted  to  look  every 
rival  in  the  face  and  maintain  his  own  in  war  or  peace,  in  frozen  lands  or  torid  heat. 

See  him,  the  Scot  of  to-day,  intelligent  and  thrifty,  liberty  loving  and  fearless,  clear 
minded  and  defiant  in  conscience.  Every  busy  center  and  trading  town  where  civiliza- 
tion has  gone,  knows  the  canny  Scot. 

But  how  did  he  become  mixed  with  the  Irish,  so  as  to  be  called  Scotch-Irish? 

52 


I 


Those  of  you  who  are  acquainted  with  the  geography  of  Ireland  know  that  it  is  divided 
into  four  provinces — Ulster,  Munster,  Leinster  and  Connaught.  Ulster  is  the  part 
nearest  Scotland.  So  that  when  Britain  determined  to  send  colonists  into  Ulster,  she 
selected  them  chiefly  from  the  Lowlands  of  Scotland.  The  transplanting  of  the  Scot 
into  Ulster,  kept  for  the  world  the  essential  and  best  features  of  the  Lowlander.  One 
of  the  important  facts  in  history  is  the  plantation  of  Ulster, 

The  l6th  of  April,  1605,  should  be  for  us  all  memorable,  by  all  historic,  ancestral 
and  constitutional  rights,  for  that  l6th  of  April  was,  as  all  State  papers  show,  "The 
day  of  the  Great  Charter."  On  that  day  was  given  forth  by  the  English  Court  that 
charter  under  which  the  men  appointed  for  the  purpose  were  authorized  to  start  a 
movement,  the  end  of  which  the  world  has  not  yet  seen.  In  Ulster  stood  the  trans- 
planted Scot,  the  man  of  opportunity,  of  usefulness  and  order,  the  man  of  law,  and 
self-respect,  and  self-reliance,  with  a  war  wasted  country  to  reclaim  and  to  hold.  Just 
as  to  these  western  shores  came  the  strongest  souls,  the  more  daring  and  select,  so  to 
Ulster  from  the  best  parts  of  lower  Scotland  came  the  picked  men  to  be  Britain's  favored 
colonists.  They  became  the  genuine  Scotch-Irish  men.  But  after  three-quarters  of  a 
century  of  peace  and  prosperity,  dark  and  wicked  forces  change  the  Ulsterman  from 
the  contented  colonist  to  the  exasperated  emigrant. 

From  1633,  when  Wentworth  opened  his  star  chamber  of  despots,  and  his  high  com- 
mission courts  of  persecuting  prelates,  to  1704,  when  the  sacramental  test  grew  un- 
bearable, Ulster  was  distracted  by  tyrants  and  prelates.  The  wrongs  of  the  once  con- 
tented colonist  were  five  fold :  he  was  wronged  by  the  State,  by  the  Church,  in  his 
home,  in  his  trade,  and  in  his  very  grave.  When  his  righteous  anger  was,  in  the  open- 
ing years  af  the  I8th  century,  reaching  its  whitest  heat,  the  stirring  American  colonies 
began  to  tell  upon  him.  The  transplanted  Scot  is  now  ready  to  become  afresh  a  col- 
onist, as  the  transplanted  Scotch  Irishman.  Yes,  the  Ulsterman  is  best  called  by  our 
own  phrase,  the  Scotch-Irish-Presbyterian.  So  he  appeared  on  the  American  continent 
a  distinct  man,  an  immigrant  seeking  a  land  of  greater  freedom,  in  him  wrought  the 
forces  of  outraged  right,  of  self-assertion,  of  hope,  and  of  sympathy. 

When  the  war  of  the  Revolution  broke  out,  he  was  found  in  the  front,  the  first  to 
start  and  the  last  to  quit.  As  one  has  said,  "he  had  reached  a  land  where,  not  pedigree 
but  prowess,  not  classes  but  character,  not  rank  but  rights,  fixed  a  man's  place  and 
opportunity — a  land  where  no  church  would  dare  brand  his  children,  nor  bar  them 
from  the  fullest  privileges  in  school  or  college  ;  a  land  where  his  marriage  was 
sacred,  his  vote  was  free,  and  his  grave  inviolable."  Great  Britain  never  lost 
such  hearts  as  the  men  and  women  who  had  themselves,  or  whose  fathers  and  mothers 

53 


had  kept  the  pass  at  Derry  and  Enniskilbn. 

I  stand  now  where  1  can  say  that  the  Ohio  of  to-day,  a  century  ago,  was  a  wilder- 
ness that  required  strong  arms,  resolute  wills  and  a  fixed  purpose,  to  subdue.  The  ad- 
vance-guard came  to  the  mouth  of  the  Muskingum  in  1788,  to  be  followed  in  Decem- 
ber by  a  settlement  "opposite  the  mouth  of  Licking  creek,"  where  the  Queen  City  now 
stands.  When  the  year  1800  came,  there  were  some  localities  thickly  settled  along  the 
Ohio  river,  and  some  in  the  interior  of  the  State.  In  this  coming  of  immigration,  no 
nationality  stands  more  prominent  than  the  Scotch-Irish  Presbyterians.  It  was  aggres- 
sive, bold,  and  sure  of  action,  and  in  reclaiming  the  wilderness,  building  the  home,  the 
church  and  the  school,  none  were  more  progressive.  The  trend  of  the  Scotch-Irish 
immigration  to  Ohio  was  in  two  main  lines;  one  over  the  mountains,  through  New 
York  and  Pennsylvania.  These  settled  chiefly  in  the  eastern  and  central  parts,  forming 
communities,  mostly  Presbyterian.  The  other  came  from  the  Carolinas  and  the 
Huguenot  settlements  in  the  South. 

But  it  was  the  Scotch-Irish  Presbyterians  who,  for  the  most  part,  laid  the  foundations 
in  this  immediate  region,  as  the  names  on  your  early  church  roll  will  show,  and 
their  children  and  their  grand-children  and  their  great-grand  children  are  here  to-day, 
to  join  in  the  one-hundredth  anniversary  of  the  organization  of  this  church. 

We  are  now  ready  to  answer  the  question,  ''What  made  the  Scotch-Irish  the  men  they 
are?''  It  was  the  Word,  the  Spirit  and  the  Grace  of  God.  We  have  been  celebrating 
in  our  Presbyterian  churches  the  250th  anniversary  of  the  Westminster  Assembly  and 
of  the  formation  of  the  Westminster  Standards.  It  was  l5o  years  before  the  organi- 
zation of  this  church.  A  work  was  done  in  that  Assembly  in  those  trying  days  which 
has  yielded  a  bountiful  harvest. 

Dr.  Archibald  Alexander  once  made  this  statement,  that  the  Reformed  Protestant 
Theology  reached  its  zenith  in  the  17th  century.  The  Westminster  Assembly  was  con- 
vened near  the  middle  of  that  age,  and  in  the  mid-day  light  of  its  learning  and  genius. 
Had  we  no  histories  of  its  members,  and  no  records  of  its  discussions,  the  contents  of 
the  Confession  of  Faith  itself,  are  enough  to  teach  us  that  those  profound  and  illustri- 
ous scholars  were  enriched  with  all  the  stores  of  sacred  learning  gathered  from  previous 
ages,  and  culminating  in  their  glorious  epoch.  They  knew  the  past  history  of  the 
church,  and  of  doctrine,  and  of  philosophy,  and  had  before  them  all  the  great  symbols 
of  the  previous  ages,  from  the  Council  of  Nice  to  the  Synod  of  Dort.  Providence 
thus  qualified  them  for  their  important  task  to  the  most  eminent  degree,  and  set  them 
in  that  historic  epoch  most  favorable  to  success.  We  are  taught  that  the  Word  of 
God  liveth  and  abideth  forever.     The  structure  which  is  built  exclusively  upon  this,  is, 

54 


like  it,  permanent  and  enduring.  In  this  we  find  the  chief  glory  and  value  of  our 
Presbyterian  Standards.  It  is  for  this  reason  they  remain  as  well  adapted  to  the  l8th 
and  l9th  as  to  the  17th  century,  to  America  as  to  Great  Britain,  to  a  popular  as  well 
as  to  a  regal  commonwealth.  For  example,  the  Shorter  Catechism  is  as  modern  as 
the  Bible,  and  its  truths  are  as  imperishable.  It  answers  succinctly  such  questions  as 
What?  and  How?  respecting  God,  man,  time  and  eternity;  for  it  is  founded  on  the 
Word  of  God.  It  gives  the  briefest  and  best  answers  in  the  English  language  to  such 
questions  as,  What  is  God?  What  is  sin?  What  is  prayer?  What  is  faith  in  Jesus 
Christ?  What  is  repentance  unto  life?  The-  survival  of  the  Shorter  Cate- 
chism, its  associations,  its  doctrines,  its  practices,  its  logic,  its  instructions,  its 
fruitage,  all  plead  for  its  continuance  as  a  text  book  in  the  home  and  in  the  Sabbath 
school.  It  has  been  memorized  by  the  young,  recalled  by  the  middle  aged,  and  medi- 
tated upon  by  the  old,  in  England,  Scotland  and  Ireland,  for  the  last  two  hundred  and 
fifty  years.  It  was  brought  with  the  Bible  and  the  Confession  of  Faith  by  the  Scotch- 
Irish  Presbyterians  to  America,  and  was  studied  by  the  boys  and  girls  in  the  log  cabins 
of  the  pioneers  who  laid  the  foundations  of  Presbyterianism  in  the  great  States.  It  has 
been  food  for  the  mind,  meat  for  the  soul,  and  inspiration  for  the  life  of  many  of 
God's  chosen  people.  It  has  developed  strong  men  and  women,  who  served  and 
glorified  God  in  their  generation,  and  are  now  enjoying  him  forever  in  '  'the  General 
Assembly  and  Church  of  the  Firstborn  which  are  written  in  Heaven."  Thomas  Car- 
lyle  said  in  1876,  "The  older  I  grow — and  I  now  stand  on  the  brink  of  eternity — the 
more  comes  back  to  me  the  sentence  in  the  Catechism  which  I  learned  when  a  child, 
and  the  fuller  and  deeper  its  meaning  becomes,  '  Man's  chief  end  is  to  glorify  God  and 
enjoy  Him  forever.'  "  Rufus  Choate  once  quoted  an  answer  of  the  Catechism  in  one 
of  his  legal  arguments,  and  turning  to  the  Court  said,  "  May  it  please  your  honor,  my 
mother  taught  me  this  in  my  earliest  childhood,  and  I  trust  I  shall  not  forget  it  in  mine 
age."  One  of  the  most  eminent  missionaries  to  Turkey  wrote,  "In  the  days  of  our 
fathers  and  grandfathers,  that  Catechism  was  a  wonderful  institution,  and  the  descend- 
ants of  those  families  that  were  most  thoroughly  drilled  in  it  are  now  undeniably  the 
very  bone  and  sinew  of  New  England,  whether  considered  politically,  socially  or  re- 
ligiously." 

Should  we  not  continue  then,  diligently  to  teach  the  doctrines  of  the  Bible  and  our 
Catechism,  because  if  faithfully  inculcated,  they  will  do  in  the  future  what  they  have 
already  so  often  done  in  the  past?  In  former  years,  and  in  older  lands  beyond  the  seas, 
and  in  later  years  on  this  American  continent,  they  have  made  great  and  good  churches, 
churches  as  great  and  good  as  any  the  world  has  yet  seen.     They  have  made  great  and 

55 


good  denominations — denominations  as  great  and  good  as  any  that  have  yet  marked 
the  history  of  the  world.  They  have  made  great  and  good  men  and  women — men  and 
women  as  great  and  good  as  any  with  whom  God  has  yet  blessed  the  human  race. 
Wherever  the  truths  of  the  Bible  and  our  Catechisms  have  been  inculcated,  they 
have  purified  and  elevated  and  ennobled  all  the  institutions  of  the  world — the  family, 
the  State  and  the  Church. 

But  let  us  never  forget  how  these  Scotch- Irish  Presbyterians  and  their  ancestors  back 
in  earlier  centuries,  trusted  in  God  and  depended  on  Him.  The  other  instrumen- 
tality working  with  the  Word,  in  the  equipment  of  these  grand  old  Presbyterian  heroes, 
was  God's  sovereign  and  stupendous  providence.  Steadily  and  surely  the  King  of 
Glory  was  delivering  the  Church  from  her  two  ancient  oppressors,  Rome  and  Caesar. 
And  if  England  had  seen  God's  amazing  power,  Scotland  more.  From  the  common 
people  to  the  lords,  and  from  the  lords  to  the  throne,  arose  the  tide;  and  monarchy 
was  powerless  to  say,  "Hitherto,  but  no  farther."  The  blood  of  eighteen  thousand 
martyrs  flowed,  but  every  drop  of  it  had  a  voice  to  cry  from  the  ground  and  to  preach 
the  Word.  The  very  agonies  of  the  dying  were  the  birth  throes  of  eternal  living. 
Driven  from  hope,  in  man,  to  whom  could  the  saints  go  but  unto  the  Sovereign  God.? 
When  in  old  Greyfriars  churchyard,  in  Edinburgh,  the  Covenanters  dipped  their  pens 
in  the  blood  gushing  from  their  hearts  to  self-made  openings  in  their  veins,  and  signed 
their  allegiance  to  Jesus  as  King,  we  can  see  how,  out  of  the  suppressed  groans  and 
prayers,  not  loud  but  deep,  in  that  awful  hour  they  must  have  looked  for  support  to 
the  Sovereign  God  and  His  everlasting  arm.  Well  may  Froude  say  of  these  Presby- 
terian Calvinists:  "They  were  splintered  and  torn,  but  no  power  could  bend  or  melt 
them."  And  the  reason  Froude  gives  is  good:  "They  dwelt,  as  pious  men  are  apt  to 
dwell  in  suffering  and  sorrow,  on  the  all  disposing  power  of  Providence.  Their  burden 
grew  lighter  as  they  considered  that  God  had  so  determined  that  they  should  bear  it." 

In  conclusion,  brethren,  you  are  to  be  congratulated  that  you  belong  to  the  genera- 
tion now  celebrating  the  hundredth  anniversary  of  your  church  organization.  ' '  The 
fathers,  where  are  they?"  They  have  gone  to  receive  their  crowns.  They  began  the 
century,  with  the  forest  all  around  them,  in  faith,  prayer  and  hope;  see  that  you  go 
on  in  the  same  spirit.  You  are  to  be  congratulated  that  you  have  had  such  noble, 
heroic,  God-fearing  ancestry — and  that  you  are  living,  earnest,  faithful  Christians,  so 
far  as  the  grace  of  God  has  made  you  such.  See  that  you  are  true,  first  to  the  Head 
and  King  of  Zion;  second,  to  the  Church  redeemed  by  the  blood  of  the  Lamb;  third, 
to  your  own  souls;  and,  fourth,  to  the  cause  of  Christ,  throughout  the  whole  earth. 

We  stand  at  the  close  of  a  marvellous  century  to-day — "the  climactric  century  of 

56 


time,"  as  one  has  said.  We  cannot  expect  ever  again  to  have  a  century  like  the  one 
now  closing.  During  it  God  has  opened  the  door  of  access  to  more  human  hearts  than 
during  all  the  other  centuries  put  together. 

"  Fling  out  the  banner;  heathen  lands 

Shall  see  from  far  the  glorious  sight: 
And  nations,  crowding  to  be  born, 

Baptize  their  spirits  in  its  light. 

Fling  out  the  banner;  let  it  float 

Skyward  and  seaward,  high  and  wide; 
Our  glory  only  in  the  cross, 

Our  only  hope  the  crucified." 


I 


I 


57 


ZTbe  riDtseton  of  tbc  preeWerian  Cburcb* 

Rev.  James  D.  Moffat,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  President  of  Washington  and  Jefferson  College, 

Washington,  Pennsylvania. 

The  centennial  exercises  to  which  I  have  listened  to-day  have  been  of  peculiar  inter- 
est to  me.  I  can  sympathize  with  the  pastor  and  people  of  this  church  in  their  min- 
gled joy  and  sadness,  as  past  scenes  and  persons  long  gone  are  recalled  to  memory. 
But  having  been  living  for  so  many  years  in  other  places,  my  experiences  to-day  may 
be  different,  more  personal  in  character.  The  flight  of  time  comes  to  me  with  special 
force  when  1  think  that  my  own  recollections  carry  me  back  over  one-half  of  the  cen- 
tennial period  of  this  church,  1  have  recollections  of  two  or  three  scenes  which  took 
place  when  we  lived  in  a  house  on  this  street,  Marietta  street,  not  far  south  of  this  spot, 
which  must  have  taken  place  about  the  year  1848.  I  was  but  little  past  two  years  old, 
and  account  for  my  ability  now  to  recollect  these  few  scenes  by  the  fact  that  1  have 
been  recalling  them  for  many  years,  and  occasionally  speaking  of  them.  Coming 
back  to  the  scenes  of  my  boyhood,  I  have  that  feeling,  which  so  many  others  have 
spoken  of,  that  nothing  is  as  large  as  it  once  seemed  to  me.  The  old  homes,  old 
school  houses,  and  the  old  haunts  seem  to  have  grown  less  as  I  have  grown  larger. 
But  there  is  a  peculiar  pleasure  in  the  return  to  the  mind  of  names  long  since  forgotten, 
when  the  places  once  more  appear  in  view.  Frog  Hollow,  Goose  Hollow,  Greasy 
Hill,  Jug  Run,  where  we  found  our  first  "ole  swimmin  hole;"  and  Indian  Falls,  under 
whose  projecting  rock,  in  a  deeply  shaded  glen,  we  often  stood  and  let  the  cool,  clear 
water  fall  over  our  head  and  body;  and  the  Indian  Rocks,  not  far  away  in  the  woods, 
where  we  would  roast  green  corn,  to  which  we  had  no  other  title  but  that  the  sweat  of 
our  brows  had  been  shed  in  getting  it,  and  where  the  caverns  suggested  the  traditions 
which  had  come  down  from  the  times  of  Lewis  Wetzell  and  his  Indian  foes,  the  tradi- 
tions and  caverns  uniting  with  conscience,  I  suppose,  to  make  us  somewhat  apprehen- 
sive of  impending  doom; — what  a  multitude  of  varied  associations  do  these  old  places 
stir  in  the  minds  of  many  men  who  were  boys  in  this  town  from  twenty- five  to  fifty 
years  ago! 

1  remember  the  old  church,  which  stood  across  the  street  from  this  one,  to  which 
my  father  came  with  the  anxieties  young  ministers  always  experience  in  undertaking 

58 


their  first  charge.  It  was  a  plain,  one-story  church,  somewhat  longer  than  its  width, 
with  vestibule  and  choir  gallery  over  it  at  one  end,  and  pulpit  at  the  other.  On  each 
side  of  the  pulpit  were  pews,  but  the  the  two  nearest  the  pulpit  were  much  roomier 
pews  than  the  rest.  They  were  indeed  small  rooms,  in  which  the  seat  ran  clear  around 
from  the  door  to  the  door  again.  One  of  these,  on  the  south  side,  was  the  pastor's 
pew,  not  much  liked  by  the  younger  members  of  the  family,  because  of  the 
pressing  necessity  for  such  excellent  order  in  the  full  view  of  the  congregation.  The 
large  square  pew  on  the  opposite  side  was  occupied  by  Judge  Ruggles  and  his  family. 
The  Sabbath  school  and  prayer  meeting  room  was  in  the  basement  below.  As  the 
ground  sloped  rapidly  from  the  front  end  of  the  church,  it  was  only  the  east  end  of  the 
building  which  had  a  basement,  the  most  of  which  was  above  ground,  but  when  a  door 
at  the  west  end  of  the  Sabbath  school  room  happened  to  be  open  we  could  see  a  clay 
bank.  Here  I  got  my  first  introduction  to  the  Sunday  school,  and  the  Wednesday 
night  prayer  meeting,  where  the  Elders  were  careful  to  overlook  in  their  prayers  no 
worthy  object  or  class,  certainly  not  the  Jews,  and  all  expressed  in  rich  scriptural 
language  and  solemn  tone,  which  makes  the  modern  Y.  M.  C.  A.  prayer  seem  some- 
times almost  irreverent  by  contrast  with  such  memories.  Very  pleasant,  too,  are  the 
memories  which  cluster  about  certain  names  of  persons,  who,  in  one  way  or  another, 
became  identified  in  our  youthful  minds  with  some  phases  of  church  work.  Uncle 
George  Anderson,  John  Jepson,  James  Hutchinson,  William  Chambers,  Franklin  Bell, 
and  many  others,  each  with  its  own  suggestions,  appear  in  memory.  During  my 
father's  ministry  there  was  a  preaching  service  held  on  the  Sabbath  afternoon  during 
summer  months  at  some  school  house  or  grove  in  the  country.  These  services  were 
always  very  largely  attended  by  the  people  of  the  neighborhood,  and  the  pastor's  chil- 
dren enjoyed  such  services  far  more  than  those  held  in  church,  for  they  involved  a  ride 
over  these  beautiful  hills  and  valleys,  and  a  good  country  dinner  at  some  house  nearby, 
where  the  children  were  sure  to  be  well  provided  for.  These  services  were  held  in  all 
directions.  In  the  north,  not  far  from  Mr.  Hutchinson's;  in  the  east,  near  Mr.  Bell's 
or  Mr,  Taggart's;  in  the  south,  near  Mr.  Chambers'  and  in  the  west,  at  the  County 
Home.  True,  these  are  only  my  personal  recollections,  and  you  might  be  spared  re- 
cital of  them;  but  it  is  one  evidence  of  a  church's  usefulness  that  some  very  pleasant 
personal  recollections  are  connected  with  its  life  and  services. 

But  I  must  turn  away  from  these  personal  recollections  to  say  something  on  the 
topic  1  have  been  asked  to  discuss.  It  will,  perhaps,  be  recognised  as  one  appropriate 
to  this  closing  hour  of  your  great  day.  The  St.  Clairsville  Church,  with  its  hundred 
years  of  history,  is  but  one  among  many  thousands  of  Presbyterian  churches  in  our 

59 


country,  and  its  mission  harmonizes  with  that  of  the  church  at  large.  What  is  that 
mission?  What  kind  of  Christian  work  is  our  church  specially  fitted  to  do?  It  need 
scarcely  be  said,  that  as  a  branch  of  the  Church  of  Christ,  our  church  unites  with 
others  in  a  common  mission.  We  attempt  to  do  the  work  in  the  world  which  is  com- 
mon to  all  Protestant,  and  especially  Evangelical  churches.  It  sometimes  needs  to  be 
said  that  the  points  wherein  we  agree  with  other  Christian  churches  are  both  more  nu- 
merous and  more  important  than  those  wherein  we  differ.  Our  mission  is,  first  of  all, 
to  do  what  we  can  toward  making  men  and  women  and  children  faithful  and  consistent 
followers  of  Jesus  Christ.  But  each  church,  separated  from  others  by  peculiarities  of 
doctrine  or  practice,  may  be  supposed  to  have  in  view  the  making  of  some  distinct  im- 
pression on  the  world,  or  the  cultivation  of  some  special  type  of  Christian  character. 
In  no  other  way  can  it  fully  justify  its  separate  existence. 

There  are  four  terms  which  may  tolerably  well  describe  four  types  of  religion,  to  one 
of  which  historic  churches  have  in  the  main  contributed.  These  are  Intellectual,  Emo- 
tional, Active  and  Formal.  In  the  Intellectual  type  special  attention  is  paid  to  doc- 
trine, its  elaboration  and  defence.  In  the  Emotional  type,  certain  affections  and  spiritual 
experiences  are  looked  upon  as  the  goal  and  test  of  a  genuine  religion.  In  the  Active 
type,  certain  philanthropic  works  have  prominence,  and  doctrinal  belief  and  emotional 
experiences  treated  with  comparative  indifference.  In  the  Formal  type,  the  forms  of 
public  worship  assume  great  prominence,  and  occasion  the  inference  that  compliance 
with  the  prescribed  rites  carries  with  it  all  the  value  of  doctrinal  and  emotional  religion. 
It  will  not  do  to  name  any  of  the  historic  churches  as  exactly  illustrating  these  types, 
for  all  have  changed  from  year  to  year,  growing  more  like  each  other  and  becoming 
less  and  less  distinctive.  Churches  which  in  one  period  of  their  history  would  be  pro- 
nounced Emotional,  have  become  more  Intellectual;  the  Intellectual  have  become  more 
Active  or  Formal;  the  Formal  are  not  indifferent  to  doctrine,  nor  destitute  of  mission- 
ary spirit.  But  our  church  has  been  regarded  throughout  its  history  as  devoted  largely 
to  the  cultivation  of  the  intellectual  type  of  religion.  It  has  adopted  the  longest  and 
most  systematic  of  all  modern  creeds;  has  made  the  discussion  of  doctrine  the  most 
common  form  of  pulpit  discourse;  has  insisted  that  its  children  should  be  made  famil- 
iar with  its  Shorter  Catechism  as  early  as  they  are  capable  of  committing  its  words  to 
memory;  has  required  that  its  ministers  have  the  best  education  obtainable;  has  given 
special  encouragement  to  a  high  theological  education  by  founding  and  maintaining 
theological  seminaries;  and  has  extended  fostering  help  to  all  forms  of  popular  educa- 
tion, and  provided  endowment  for  colleges  and  universities  for  both  young  men  and 
young  women.     The  results  also  may  fairly  be  appealed  to  as  sustaining  the  claim  that 

60 


our  church  has  realized  that  its  mission  is  to  produce  an  intellectual  type  of  religion. 

Now,  we  do  not  claim  that  this  type  is  the  highest  type,  It  will  have  to  be  admitted 
that  the  highest  conceivable  type  is  that  which  combines  all  these  excellencies  in  proper 
proportion.  Indeed,  no  life  could  be  called  religious  in  which  certain  emotions  were 
wanting,  or  which  did  not  lead  to  the  doing  of  good  and  respect  for  proper  forms. 
What  we  may  claim  is  that  we  have  been  wise  in  giving  the  place  to  the  intellectual 
element  we  have  generally  given  to  it. 

Knowledge  lies  at  the  basis  of  all  genuine  feeling,  right  action  and  reasonable  forms. 
Therefore,  it  has  ever  been  the  theory  of  our  preaching  that  we  must  make  our  first 
appeal  to  the  intellect  of  men.  Of  course,  there  is  a  danger,  and  we  have  encountered 
it  in  our  past  history,  of  underestimating  the  importance  of  the  emotions  and  activities 
of  religious  life;  and  men  may  rest  in  a  sound  creed  as  all  they  need,  as  truly  as 
other  men  may  rest  in  a  decorous  attention  to  ceremony.  But  we  have  corrected  that 
one-sided  preaching,  and  now  teach  as  faithfully  as  any  church  can  that  works  are  the 
truest  tests  of  faith;  and  peace,  joy,  love  and  assurance  are  fruits  to  be  looked  for  and 
enjoyed  by  the  intelligent  believer.  On  the  other  hand  to  guard  against  illusive  and 
temporary  feelings,  we  have  taught  that  all  experiences  should  be  rational;  that  is, 
have  their  roots  in  what  we  know,  and  that  all  truly  philanthropic  work  must  stand  the 
test  of  actually  accomplishing  the  good  we  intelligently  aim  to  etfect.  The  ideal 
Christian  is  one  who  knows  what  he  believes,  why  he  believes  what  he  does,  and  feels 
sure  it  is  just  what  he  should  believe  concerning  God  and  man  and  their  relations,  and 
who,  in  consequence  of  this  intelligent  belief,  experiences  and  yields  to  those  impulses 
which  urge  to  all  right  actions,  which  express  our  love  to  God  and  fellow  man;  and 
who  will  not  despise  the  rites  of  a  church,  but  endeavor  to  make  intelligent  use  of 
them  to  stir  his  emotions  and  remind  him  of  convictions  too  easily  forgotten. 

Now,  so  far  as  our  church  has  contributed  toward  this  ideal  type,  it  has  been  mainly 
through  four  agencies: — 

1.  First,  the  constant  practice  of  doctrinal  preaching  and  teaching.  The  West- 
minster Confession  of  Faith  has  been  made  the  basis  of  the  preaching.  This  secured 
to  Scriptural  expositions  a  certain  depth  and  breadth,  which  the  somewhat  hap-hazzard 
way  in  which  modern  preachers  select  their  texts,  according  to  their  own  fancy,  or 
with  a  view  to  pleasing  the  popular  fancy,  can  never  know. 

2.  A  second  agency  has  been  the  Family  life,  an  inheritance  from  our  Scotch  and 
Scotch-Irish  ancestry,  but  after  all  originally  fostered  by  the  pulpit  and  the  creed  of 
Presbyterianism.  For  generations  the  Presbyterian  family  in  which  the  instruction  and 
training  of  the  children  was  neglected,  was  a  remarkable  exception.     Out  of  these  fam- 

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ilies  came  our  most  devoted  ministers,  missionaries  and  elders,  and  a  membership  in- 
telligent at  least  in  the  Bible  and  certain  doctrinal  discussions. 

3.  A  third  agency  has  been  the  persistent  demand  that  men  proposing  to  enter  our 
ministry  should  take  time  to  make  the  most  thorough  scholastic  and  theologic  prepara- 
tion. This  seems  to  have  been  insisted  upon  as  earnestly  during  the  earlier  years  of 
our  country's  history  as  in  later  times.  It  might  have  seemed  unnecessary  that  men, 
expecting  to  preach  to  the  rough  pioneers  of  a  century  ago,  should  be  able  to  read 
Latin  and  Greek  and  Hebrew,  but  our  Presbyterian  ancestors  took  a  different  view  of 
the  matter.  In  their  judgment  it  mattered  not  how  ignorant  the  people  might  be,  the 
preacher,  whose  mission  it  was  to  elevate  a  community,  and  to  deal  successfully  with 
all  kinds  of  people,  could  not  be  too  well  prepared  for  his  work.  When  Rev.  Thaddeus 
Dod  was  preaching  in  a  fort  at  Amity,  in  Washington  county.  Pa.,  and  starting  his 
classical  school  in  a  log  hut,  he  was  asked  by  a  Presbytery  in  New  Jersey  if  he  could 
not  find  work  in  his  county  for  young  men  who  had  spent  but  two  years  in  fitting 
themselves  to  preach.  But  Mr.  Dod  replied  that  the  country  in  which  he  was  laboring 
was  very  rough  and  hard  to  cultivate,  the  stumps  were  deeply  rooted,  and  two  year  old 
steers  were  not  equal  to  the  task  of  clearing  the  forests  for  farming.  The  ministers 
then  in  the  county  were  all  graduates  of  colleges,  and  competent  to  teach  as  well  as 
preach.  Their  very  scholarship  gave  them  higher  standing  among  men  who  lacked 
education. 

4.  A  fourth  agency  has  been  the  zeal  manifested  by  Presbyterian  ministers  and  peo- 
ple in  promoting  both  popular  and  higher  education.  It  has  been  characteristic,  par- 
ticularly of  Scotch-Irish  Presbyterians,  to  plant  a  school  beside  the  church.  Earnest  as 
were  the  fathers  in  missionary  zeal,  they  were  no  less  earnest  in  educational  zeal.  The 
pioneer  preachers  in  all  this  region  of  country,  Western  Pennsylvania  and  Eastern 
Ohio,  were  the  founders  of  schools.  Among  the  first  live  ministers  in  Washington 
county,  three  were  founders  of  classical  schools,  and  began  to  teach  Latin  and  Greek 
to  the  boys  whose  fathers  were  spending  part  of  their  time  in  clearing  off  the  forests 
and  a  part  in  fighting  Indians.  How  easy  it  would  have  been  to  ridicule  their  efforts, 
and  how  plausible  would  have  been  a  demand  then,  that  education  should  be  practical. 
But  McMillan  and  Dod  and  Smith  and  Henderson  were  far  wiser  in  their  day  than 
many  of  our  time  who  think  they  are  advanced.  They  realized  the  importance  to  the 
whole  country  about  them  of  raising  a  well  educated  ministry  on  the  ground,  as  likely 
to  prove  more  useful  than  men  imported  from  the  East,  or  from  the  old  country.  Out 
of  their  schools  grew  permanent  academies,  and  out  of  their  academies  grew  colleges, 
and  two  of  these  colleges,  now  united,  have  educated  in  little  less  than  a  century  more 

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ministers  for  the  Presbyterian  Church  than  any  other  institution  in  the  country  in  the 
same  time. 

In  our  devotion  to  these  four  agencies  our  church  does  not  stand  alone.  The  virtues 
we  claim  are  not  exclusively  ours.  As  I  have  already  said,  churches  which  once  differ- 
ed more  widely  have  grown  more  alike.  I  have  no  disposition  to  glorify  the  Presby- 
terian Church  at  the  expense  of  others,  but  I  would  that  we  might  all  understand  in 
what  way  we  have  grown  and  done  our  work  in  the  world,  that  we  may  guard  against 
changes  which  tend  to  limit  our  growth  and  our  influence. 

I  fear,  that  in  respect  to  all  four  of  these  agencies  by  which  we  have  done  our  best 
work  in  the  past,  we  shall  have  to  admit  that  the  present  generation  is  not  as  zealous 
as  past  generations  have  been. 

Doctrinal  preaching  and  instruction  has  given  way  too  much  to  other  methods, 
which  promise  more  immediate  popularity,  but  certainly  not  more  permanent  effect. 

Family  life  is  undergoing  changes,  some  of  which  are  unavoidable,  some  useful,  but 
it  is  questionable  whether  the  average  young  person  has  as  intelligent  conceptions  of 
religious  truth  as  in  olden  time. 

Presbyteries  are  not  all  zealous  in  selecting  and  calling  to  the  ministry  the  brightest 
of  their  young  men;  they  wait  for  them  to  offer  themselves,  and  then  are  not  as  par- 
ticular as  they  might  be  in  requiring  that  they  take  full  time  to  secure  a  college  edu- 
cation in  an  institution  clearly  up  to  the  standard. 

In  the  matter  of  colleges  and  their  proper  endowment  our  church  once  stood  at  the 
head  of  the  list  in  this  country.  But  we  have  allowed  ourselves  to  be  outstripped  in 
educational  work  by  churches  which  once  were  supposed  to  disparage  education  in 
their  ministry.  The  Methodist,  the  Baptist  and  the  Congregationalist  churches  all 
have  more  colleges  and  more  money  invested  in  their  endowment  than  the  Presbyterian 
Church.  And  yet  our  Church  is  possibly  the  richest,  certainly  the  most  liberal  giver 
of  money  to  religious  objects.  Are  we  acting  wisely  in  taking  the  fourth  place  in  our 
support  of  the  higher  education?  We  still  hold  the  first  place  in  supporting  theologi- 
cal training,  but  if  so  large  a  proportion  of  Presbyterian  sons  are  drawn  to  colleges  and 
universities  other  than  Presbyterian,  will  the  best  of  them  or  enough  of  them  find  their 
way  into  our  ministry?  These  are  very  serious  questions.  Equipped  as  we  are,  and 
with  traditions  we  may  well  be  thankful  for,  we  certainly  should  regard  it  as  still  the 
mission  of  our  church  to  contribute  to  the  production  of  the  highest  type  of  Christian 
character,  but  it  is  not  likely  we  can  do  our  work  any  better  than  by  following  in  all 
essential  particulars  the  methods  of  the  past. 


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Umpromptu  abt)re06e0. 

At  the  close  of  the  afternoon  session,  a  few  short,  impromptu  speeches  were  made 
by  some  of  the  brethren  present. 

Rev.  Walter  L.  Alexander,  of  Rockhill,  a  son  of  Rev.  Dr.  James  Alexander,  pastor 
from  1839  to  1846,  rejoiced  to  hear  the  things  that  had  been  said  to-day  of  his  father 
and  of  the  good  and  faithful  men  before  and  after  his  time,  who  had  done  such  noble 
work.  He  hoped  the  addresses  of  the  occasion  would  be  put  in  permanent  form  to 
preserve  them  as  a  part  of  the  church  history  of  this  country. 

Rev.  B.  J.  Brown  of  Mt.  Pleasant,  represented  the  church  that  was  a  twin  sister  of 
this  one,  both  having  been  organized  in  the  same  year,  and  served  at  first  by  the  same 
pastor.  He  congratulated  the  people  on  the  history  of  the  past,  and  the  success  of 
this  celebration. 

Rev.  Dr.  James  D.  Moffat,  of  Washington,  Pa.,  a  son  of  a  former  pastor,  though 
expecting  to  address  the  people  in  the  evening,  spoke  briefly  of  his  early  recollections  of 
this  church,  and  of  the  interest  he  felt  in  its  success.  He  congratulated  the  people, 
among  other  things,  on  the  beautiful  day  they  had  chosen  for  this  celebration,  and  did 
not  think  there  could  have  been  a  more  perfect  one  within  the  last  hundred  years. 

Dr.  Samuel  L.  Jepson,  an  elder  in  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  of  Wheeling,  and 
son  of  Mr.  John  Jepson,  a  former  elder  of  this  church,  was  called  on,  and  responded 
as  follows: 
Mr.  Chairman: 

Your  call  to  me  is  so  unexpected  that  1  have  not  one  moment  in  which  to  collect  my 
thoughts.  Referring,  however,  to  President  Moffat's  closing  allusion  to  this  beautiful 
day,  1  may  give  a  poetical  finish  in  the  words  of  our  poet  Howells: 

"What  is  so  rare  as  a  day  in  June! 

Then  if  ever,  come  perfect  days; 
Then  heaven  tries  the  earth,  if  it  be  in  tune, 

And  over  it  softly  her  warm  ear  lays." 

It  does  seem  as  if  the  God  of  the  universe,  in  anticipation  of  this  centennial  celebra- 
tion, and  as  a  reward  for  the  great  work  accomplished  by  this  grand  old  church,  had 
lovingly  sent  one  of  those  perfect  June  days,  with  the  sun  shining  in  all  his  glory,  and 
yet  the  air  as  pure  and  stimulating  as  it  can  ever  be,  so  that  all  who  wish  might  come 

64 


from  far  and  near,  to  join  in  celebrating  this  day,  which  is  to  be  memorable  in  the 
lives  of  so  many. 

This  has  been  to  me,  and  doubtless  has  to  many  others,  indeed  *'a  time  for  memory 
and  for  tears."  As  I  have  sat  here  listening  to  the  relation  of  one  incident  after  another 
that  takes  me  away  back  to  childhood  and  youth  passed  in  this  community,  many  hav- 
ing relation  to  the  character  and  life  of  my  own  sainted  father  and  mother,  1  find  myself 
compelled  to  press  back  the  tears  that  well  unbidden  to  the  eyes.  And  as  the  lives  and 
Christian  character  of  the  many  men  and  women  who  were  pioneers  in  Christian  work 
in  this  community  are  set  before  us  to-day,  I  cannot  but  feel  that  the  most  precious  pos- 
session any  one  can  have  is,  the  knowledge  that  he  comes  of  a  sterling  Christian  ancestry. 
Good  Presbyterian  blood  is  a  possession  to  be  proud  of;  and  good  Presbyterian  training 
makes  not  only  the  best  of  Christian  men  and  women  but  the  noblest  kind  of  Ameri- 
can citizens.  Where  can  better  citizens,  or  nobler  men  and  women  be  found,  than 
among  the  Scotch-Irish  Presbyterian  families  of  the  land?  The  permanent  success  of 
this  great  republic  would  be  assured,  could  their  number  be  quadrupled.  I  would  urge 
therefore,  perseverence  in  all  efforts  to  educate  the  children  and  youth  of  the  church  in 
the  truths  of  the  Bible  and  the  doctrines  of  Presbyterianism. 

My  father,  as  you  all  know,  was  long  an  elder  in  this  old  church.  A  brother  has 
succeeded  to  the  office;  and  you  have  recently  called  to  the  eldership  one  whom  the 
law  and  the  holy  bond  of  matrimony  have  made  my  son.  You  may  therefore  rest  as- 
sured that  I  shall  all  my  life  continue  to  have  a  great  interest  in  the  unity  and  prosperi- 
ty of  this  church  and  congregation,  and  shall  treasure  the  memory  of  this  day,  and 
these  centennial  services,  which  have  been  so  joyous  to  us  all. 

Wm.  Alexander,  Esq.,  of  Bridgeport,  better  acquainted  with  the  church  as  it  was  in 
the  years  of  his  father's  ministry  than  any  other  present,  arose  and  said: 
Mr.  Chairman: 

Will  you  pardon  me  for  arising  again  to  speak  of  some  things  not  yet  mentioned? 
I  want  to  speak  especially  about  the  choir  that  filled  the  gallery  at  the  west  end  of  the 
church.  In  the  early  forties,  W.  C.  Van  Meter,  then  a  student  at  Granville,  Ohio, 
came  to  this  place  and  taught  vocal  music.  He  had  a  large  class  which  met  in  the  old 
M.  E.  Church.  He  had  been  a  pupil  of  Lowell  Mason,  and  was  a  very  proficient  and 
excellent  teacher.  From  this  class  two  choirs  were  organized — one  in  the  M.  E.  church 
and  the  other  in  the  Presbyterian  church.  In  the  first,  I  remember  Stephen  Gressinger, 
H.  M.  B.  Clayland,  the  McGill  sisters,  Emily  Carothers  and  the  Wilkins  sisters.  In 
the  Presbyterian  choir,  were  Louisa  Alexander,  Mary  Ann  Paris,  Elizabeth  Paris,  Susan 
Paris,  Mary  Ramsey,  Adaline  Bell  and  the  Sutton  sisters,  and  Samuel  Paris,  William 

65 


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Paris,  William  Anderson,  Ross  Justice,  Robert  Dean  and  John  Ramsey  as  leader. 
How  they  could  sing!  They  used  Mason's  Harp,  Vols.  1  and  2.  When  on  a  bright 
summer  day  like  this,  they  would  sing  that  beautiful  anthem, 

"  Jerusalem,  my  happy  home," 
every  one  in  the  house  gave  attention.  When  Ross  Justice  would  take  the  tenor  solo,  and 
William  Anderson  came  in  with  his  incomparable  bass  voice,  that  made  the  windows 
shake,  yes  rattle  as  if  it  thundered,  there  was  music,  sacred  music,  lifting  all  up  to  the 
solemn  service  of  the  hour.  I  remember  a  solemn  scene,  when  that  choir  stood  around 
the  coffin  of  Elizabeth  Paris,  the  first  of  their  number  taken,  and  sang, 

•'  Sister,  thou  wast  mild  and  lovely," 
and  the  hymn  was  never  more  appropriate.     They  then  followed  to  the  grave,  and 
with  touching  pathos  came, 

"  Thou  hast  gone  to  the  grave,  but  we  will  not  deplore  thee, 
Though  sorrow  and  darkness  encompass  the  tomb." 

On  Communion  Sabbath,  just  before  the  service,  they  would  chant, 

"Beyond  where  Cedron's  waters  flow, 
Behold  the  suffering  Savior  go. 
To  sad  Gethsemane. " 

Then  the  service  would  close  with  some  appropriate  hymn  to  Dundee,  St.  Martin's 
or  Duke  Street.  I  have  heard  many  choirs,  but  when  that  old  choir  selected  one  of 
the  grand  old  anthems  of  Lowell  Mason,  or  rendered  "Daughter  of  Zion,  awake  from 
thy  sadness,"  I  have  never  heard  the  sentiment  brought  out  with  more  expression  as  a 
part  of  the  worship  of  God.  Of  that  old  choir,  I  have  noticed  here  to-day,  Mrs. 
Louisa  Alexander  Thompson,  Mrs.  Susan  Paris  Ramage,  and  Mr.  Samuel  Paris. 

Let  me,  in  closing,  tell  you  some  things  of  that  music  teacher,  Mr.  Van  Meter.  He 
established  a  Female  seminary  at  Lexington,  Ky.,  his  native  State.  The  use  of  a  cer- 
tain text  book  on  moral  philosophy  was  condemned  by  some  of  the  patrons  of  the 
school.  Pinally  a  mob  gathered  at  his  door,  but  he  defied  them  and  warned  them  not 
to  cross  his  threshold.  They  did  not.  The  intense  feeling  aroused  ruined  his  school, 
and  he  left  Kentucky  forever.  He  went  to  New  Orleans,  where  he  filled  the  pulpit  of 
a  Baptist  church,  temporarily  vacant.  One  day  his  attention  was  turned  to  the  con- 
dition of  things  at  the  "Pive  Points,"  in  New  York  City."  He  resolved  that  he  would 
go  there  and  see  for  himself.  He  went  and  established  a  mission  for  the  poor  and 
neglected  children.  I  once  saw  800  children  in  his  school.  I  met  him  in  a  western 
city  with  fifty  orphans,  for  whom  he  was  seeking  homes,  and  among  them  were  twin 

66 


sisters,  who  he  said^'ere  not  to  be  separated.  I  saw  him  give  ten  or  more  away  at  a 
large  meeting  in  a  public  hall  one  evening.  He  afterwards  went  to  Rome,  and  there 
established  a  similar  work.  He  sang  the  Christ  life  into  thousands  of  such  as  Christ 
took  in  His  arms  and  blessed. 

Rev.  Dr.  L.  Alechlin,  of  New  Athens,  Ohio,  added  a  few  words  of  congratulation, 
and  expressed  his  great  pleasure  in  the  interesting  occasion.  He  rejoiced  in  the  success 
that  had  attended  the  congregation  in  the  past,  and  in  what  they  had  been  able  to 
do  for  Christ.  Let  them  gird  themselves  for  the  future.  He  reminded  them  of  their 
splendid  advantages  and  opportunities,  and  of  the  great  responsibility  resting  on  them, 
to  carry  on  the  work  of  the  Lord  and  make  the  future  worthy  of  the  past. 


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